


Behind Closed Doors

by ThePurpleWarlock



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 19:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 32,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14600418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePurpleWarlock/pseuds/ThePurpleWarlock
Summary: The story of Kit and Tys developing romance and relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

Life was confusing. One minute, life was the same as it had been your entire life, next minute, your father is dead having been killed by some demons, only for you to learn that he’s been lying to you your entire life. I had grown up as Kit Rook, a mundane with the sight but apparently I’m a Shadowhunter going by the name of Christopher Herondale. As soon as Julian and Emma had arrived at the Institute I’d run inside, found an empty room and had hidden, ignoring everyone’s attempt to get me to come out and talk. I think they gave up after a while, which was fine by me. I wanted nothing to do with them. I’d been sitting in the room a few hours when I was vaguely aware of someone sitting outside the door. They made no effort to talk to me, so I made no effort to find out who it was. As it turned out I didn’t have to wait long to find out who they mystery person was, as I heard voices talking outside.

“Ty he doesn’t want to talk to us, you’re wasting your time sitting outside his room” said a voice which I’m sure belonged to Julian. Ty? As in short for Tiberius? As in the guy who held a knife to my throat? He was sitting outside my room. Why? “I want to. He’s lost everything, and had his world turned upside down. You’re all expecting him to just shrug what happened off and accept it, but he needs time too. I’m letting him know there’s someone here for him, but I’m not going to push myself on him like the rest of you are” Ty responded with. There was a pause and Julian seemed to be taking in what had just been said. “Aren’t you going to get bored sitting here on your own?” he eventually asked. Ty didn’t event hesitate in answering. “I have Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to keep me company” he responded. Julian seemed to realise he was fighting a losing battle and Ty wasn’t going to move anywhere. “Suit yourself” he said, then I heard him walk away.

Over the next few days, I only opened my door to retrieve the food that was left outside my door. From what I heard, Ty would spend all day every day sitting outside my door. Like he had said to Julian that first day, he made no effort to push himself on me, or get me to just brush off the events of that day off, instead he was letting me adapt, and let me know someone was there. It helped, it really did. One day, I decided to reward his waiting so once I knew there was no one else outside, I opened the door and stood in the corridor next to him. He looked at me and blinked a couple of times “hi” he said simply. No patronizing “oh so you’ve decided to grace us with your presence” or a sympathetic “feeling better?” just a simple hi. I decided that Ty wasn’t like the other Shadowhunters, so I decided to like him. “Do you want to come in? Change of scenery from the corridor?” I asked. Ty smiled, and closed the book he was reading and followed me into the room.

Once we were in the room, things were a little awkward. It was Ty that spoke first “I’m sorry that I held a knife to your throat, and I’m sorry your life has gotten so messy. The others aren’t as bad as they seem. Give them time” he said. I smiled then. “I’d forgiven you about the knife incident as soon as it happened. As for the other stuff, it wasn’t your fault what happened” I said simply. It was true. “What are the other’s like anyway?” I asked, sitting on the bed. Ty sat next to me, and began talking. “Julian’s nice, but since we began orphans after the war, and Helen got exiled and Mark gotten taken by the wild hunt, he became more of a parent than a brother. We’re getting used to having Mark back, he’s changed since he’s been away. He means no harm. Emma is Julian’s parabatai, and is constantly on the go, and doesn’t have a stop button and is on a mission to avenge her parents. Livvy is my twin and although we get on, she can be a bit clingy. She wants us to be parabatai but I don’t. Dru is quite and is super self-conscious of her body but doesn’t realise there is nothing wrong with it. Tavvy is the baby of the family. Uncle Arthurs odd, but we rarely see him” he finished. It felt a lot to take in.

We talked for a bit more, and I found out Ty liked listening to music and reading detective books, his favourite detective being Sherlock Holmes, because he reminded Ty of himself. When I asked why, it was because Sherlock was clever, and didn’t like being in the company of others, only letting a select few in. When Ty started to ask about me, I found myself shrugging saying “I don’t know who I am anymore” which caused him to give an understanding nod. “You’ll find yourself again. Take your time”. We fell into a silence after that. Ty soon left as it was time for him and the rest of the institute to eat. He asked if I would like to come, but I shook my head. He decided not to push it, and closed the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

After my conversation with Ty, it got me thinking. Could I discover myself? I suppose having your entire life being turned upside down allowed you to start from a blank slate, even if that meant becoming part of a race you had been taught to hate your entire life? I found myself asking my Dad had lied to me: had he known that I was Shadowhunter? If so, why did he get me to fear and hate them so much? If he wasn’t dead I’d ask him, but as he was, I couldn’t. Ty might help, even if it was just as someone as a listening ear, but he’d disappeared to be with his family. I felt a pang of jealousy then, he had a group of people to belong to. It was then I heard the sound of someone walking outside the door, place a something on the floor and then slide down a wall to sit down. Ty’s voice then spoke “I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some food” he said simply. He hadn’t needed to do that but he had. Not only was he beautiful, but kind too.

I had intended on talking to him, but panicked at the last minute so only opened enough to bring the plate in and the closed it again. This continued for a few weeks, with me hiding in my room, only opening the door to get food. Ty didn’t seem fazed that I was blocking him and everyone else out. I would occasionally hear him talking to someone who tried to get him to leave, calling me a ‘lost cause’ but he wouldn’t budge. There was one conversation that caused me to open the door to him again. He had been talking to Emma when it happened. She’d called me a lost cause, and it seemed that this particular instance had been one to many for Ty, causing him to snap “He’s not a lost cause Emma! Yes he’s lost his way a bit, I mean he watched he father being ripped apart then learnt he was a part of a race he spent his whole life fearing and hating. Add that to the fact everyone here seems to have given up on him as he couldn’t accept everything that’s happened and just move on. Please just give him his space and the time he needs Emma? Do it for me, even if you won’t do it for me?” he practically begged the last part.

I didn’t catch Emma’s response but heard her walk off. Once I was confident, I opened the door and walked out into the corridor. Ty was in his usual spot on the floor, and was in the process of putting his headphones on when he noticed me standing there. His headphones went back round his neck as he greeted me with a “hey”. I smiled despite myself. “Hey” then glancing back at the room I had been hiding in for the past month. “Can I talk to you?” I asked. Ty nodded and followed me into the room, closing the door behind him. I turned to look at him “I heard what you said to Emma. Thanks for not giving up on me and for understanding” I said, causing him to blush slightly. He then shrugged saying “I know what it’s like to be different, and have people expect you to be something when you’re not sure what you should be, just because that’s what they understand” he said simply, but I could hear the hurt underlying his words. 

I took a step forward towards him “I’m sorry to hear that. People can be cruel” I said. He nodded in agreement. I wanted to ask about what he had said, but didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable. Instead I just stared at him, taking his face in. He seemed to notice my staring, and asked me why I was doing it. I found myself blurting out “because I find you beautiful” then cringed. I had no idea what had made me say that, and I hoped he didn’t take it the wrong way. He frowned slightly “do you really think that?” he asked. Of all the responses I had been expecting, that had not been one of them. I nodded “I do, I wouldn’t have said it otherwise” I answered. He smiled at that then, a little awkwardly “I think you’re beautiful too” then stepped closer. We were only a couple of inches apart so I closed the gap between him and kissed him. He seemed a little taken aback at first, but then started to kiss me back.


	3. Chapter 3

A month after my arrival at the institute, Ty managed to convinced me to come out of my room and to give the rest of his family a go. He’d also asked them to call me Kit rather than Christopher, which they agreed to. I think they were just relieved that I wasn’t locking them away all the time. I’d somehow found the strength to agree to do some Shadowhunter training, but they’d agreed to take it slow. I had a feeling that had been Ty’s doing, not that I was complaining. Saying that, I knew I had a lot of work on my hands if I was going to be as good as the rest of them at fighting. I’d agreed to come out, partly at Ty’s request and partly because I wanted revenge on the demons that had killed my father. 

Partaking in Shadowhunting training had highlighted another link between Ty and his favourite detective Sherlock Holmes: both Sherlock and Ty only had an interest in learning about their interests, and dismissed the things that did not apply to what interested them. Ty had little interest in fighting so spent the bare minimum in the training room. I learnt that he would rather spend his time learning about animals, which did interest him. Occasionally he would tell me something he had learnt about animals that day, or show me some insect drawing he’d done. To give credit where credit was due, he was very good. 

His descriptions of his family were very accurate. I often forgot Julian was Ty’s 17 brother, given his level of maturity. Like me, they had lost their father in a violent manner, as had Emma, which had caused them all to grow up a lot. I guess that was something that united us I suppose. Emma really did seem to be here, there and everywhere. Livvy did spend a lot of time with Ty, but they seemed to have a good relationship. I wonder if it was because they were twins. Dru did seem to be quite but I had no idea if it was because she was shy because she didn’t know me, or whether it was just another part of her. Tavvy just seemed happy to be looked after by everyone else. Mark, on the other hand seemed to have adjusted to being back with his family but there was certainly a lot of work to be done. He and Emma had become an item and seemed fans of constant public displays of affection. Neither Julian nor Ty seemed all that impressed about this development.

The best part of coming out of my room was spending time with Ty. Proper time with him, rather having him sit outside my door. Whatever was developing between the pair of us, was kept between us. Ty didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Mark and Emma, and I wanted to feel comfortable, so we kept things quiet. Sometimes he just seemed to want to be in my company, and sometimes he was ok with things going a bit further, whether that was us holding hands, a hug or, rarest of all, the occasional kiss. It was these I treasured of all the moments I got with him. As time went on, Ty instigated more of these moments, making me realise he was getting more comfortable in my company.


	4. Chapter 4

The more Shadowhunter training I did, the better I got. The better I got, the more I enjoyed it. This was a change everyone seemed to notice, as I was spending more time outside the room I had locked myself in and amongst the other residents of the Institute. It helped that I didn’t feel so inferior to them and knew I could attempt to defend myself if I needed. Plus, I was slowly accepting the fact that I was a Shadowhunter, which meant that they became more accepting of me. Livvy, Ty’s twin sister seemed to realise that something was going on between me and Ty, and he cared about me so made more of an effort to get to know me, which I appreciated as she never mentioned families. 

One particularly sunny day, Livvy practically skipped into the training room, to find me, Mark and Diego in there. As I had started training late, I needed to put the hours in to catch up, and Mark had spent five years in faerie, fighting as they do rather than as a Shadowhunter, and was subsequently out of practice. It was decided that Diego would be the one to train him, which was an interesting experience. Mark had taken an instant dislike to Diego and kept trying to insult him, but was so bad at insults he ended up complimenting the guy. On seeing us in the room, Livvy announced that we were all going to the beach for the day. Mark seemed happy about this, as it meant he was leaving the institute and got to spend time outdoors. Diego just shrugged and just seem to ‘go with the flow’ where I was more sceptical. It would mean a day out having to interact with all the other residence at one. I liked them but having grown up with just my Dad, and not being a Blackthorn, I often felt overwhelmed and a little left out when they were all together. Livvy, bless her seemed to sense my reluctance grabbed my hand and pulled me out the training room to join the others.

On entering the kitchen it was obvious that everyone was ready to go, and was waiting for me to turn up before they could leave. Tavvy was clearly very excited as he was running around getting in everyone’s way whilst chanting “beach” over and over again very loudly. I had to admit it made me smile. Once Julian had opened the door, Tavvy was out like a shot, running towards the beach, meaning that Julian had to jog after him to make sure he could still see him and making sure he didn’t get hurt in his excitement. Everyone then followed them out. Mark and Emma went together, and were holding hands, as were Christina and Diego. Dru and Livvy had paired up, and seemed to be in deep discussion over a game they wanted to play, leaving me with Ty, which I was very happy about.

In the corner of my eye I noticed him clutching onto one of his Sherlock Holmes books, which caused me to smile slightly. “Planning on reading rather than going into the sea?” I asked by way of starting a conversation, causing Ty to give me a funny look “I thought that was obvious” he said, clearly confused as to why I had stated such a thing. I shrugged, this I had learnt was normal for Ty. “I guess. I was just trying to make conversation” I said simply. Ty nodded “I don’t really like going to the beach, I’d rather spend my time with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, but there are certain times, like this where I can’t avoid not going to the beach, so I compromise and bring Holmes and Watson with me” he said, matter of factly. He then added “Do you like going to the beach Kit?” which surprised me and caught me off guard. “I used to. I went loads with Dad…but obviously haven’t been back since” I responded. Ty seemed to have realised he had touched on a sensitive topic, and seemed to what to fix it, by suggesting a very Ty solution. “If it gets too much you can sit with me and I’ll read you some of my story” he said which made me smile “Thank you Ty, I will keep that in mind. I may have to take you up on that offer” I said. 

We’d eventually reached the beach, and I got sabotaged by Dru and Livvy. They pulled me towards the sea screaming “Come join in Kit” and didn’t give me a chance to respond. Emma and Ty I had noticed stayed firmly on the beach, but everyone else had been roped into the sea by Dru and Livvy and a massive water fight had been instigated. I soon realised it was ‘every Shadowhunter for themselves’ and for I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I had expected to. It was nice to just have fun after everything that happened. Eventually the battle had finished, and an argument had broken out over who had actually won. I made my way back to Ty, whilst attempting to catch my breath. Sitting down next to him, I found myself saying “I think I might want some of that story you promised me” which he was more than happy to oblige. We didn’t head back to the Institute still the sun began to set, and I had to admit it had been one of the best days since my arrival at the Institute.


	5. Chapter 5

Having spent the day with the Blackthorn family made me realise what I was missing out on. Ty seemed to sense something was up with me so asked me what the matter was. That was something I realised about Ty, if he wanted to ask a question, he asked it. I was reluctant to burden him with what was going on with me, but felt Ty’s hand slip into mine and heard him say “somethings bothering you, let me help solve it” which made my heart melt slightly. So I decided to tell him what was going on. “The day at the beach made me realise what I was missing out on, having a family. The feeling like you belong to something, to a group of people. I had my dad, but he’s now dead, leaving me with no one. People say I’m a Herondale but I don’t feel a connection to these people” I said. There it was all out in the open, and I was waiting for Ty to say I was being ridiculous or jealous but to my surprise he didn’t. 

He just rested his head on my shoulder saying “the institute is your family now. But if you want to know more about the Herondale’s we’ll just ask the people who know them best” he said as though it was the simplest thing in the world. “Who do you suggest I ask?” I asked Ty. He knew more Shadowhunters than I did, so he was bound to know who I could ask. “Well there’s Jace Herondale, you could talk to him. But I think the best people for you to ask would be Tessa Gray and Jem Carstairs. They’ve got strong links to the family and have known several generations of Herondales” which made me frown slightly. I recognised the last two names but it took me a moment to register why I knew them. Then it occurred to me “They were the people that found me, told me the truth about who I was aren’t they” I asked, and Ty nodded. He then turned to look at me in the eye, and took both of my hands in his. “You mustn’t judge them for that Kit. They are really nice. They’ve been asking about you and I know they will help you in any way they can. I promise you that if you want me there I’ll be there” he said. I was grateful for that so I asked him to help me.

We soon got in touch with Tessa and Jem and like Ty had predicted they were more than happy to help me learn more about the Herondales. As Ty had promised, he stayed with me the entire time. Tessa as it turned out was married to one of my ancestors, a Will Herondale, Jem and Will had been parabatai, but their link had been severed when he had to become a Silent Brother due to his addiction to a demonic drug called yin fen, an addiction he was now cured of. Much to everyone’s surprise, Will and Tessa had had two children: James and Lucie. Tessa was a warlock (well that was closest description there was for her) so everyone assumed she was unable to have children, but due to her having Shadowhunter lineage she was able to have children. It was though their children and future generations came Jace. 

I know it’s such a little thing, but knowing I had the trademark Herondale blue eyes really made me happy. It helped me feel a connection to a family I was apparently a part of. They kept telling me all these stories of Herondales gone by. Apparently another thing I had inherited was their irrational fear of ducks. All the Herondales that they had known, with the exception of Tessa’s son James had been terrified of them. James on the other hand, had decided he was “king of the ducks” for the simple reason he wanted to annoy Will. Knowing I wasn’t alone in my fear really helped, but Ty just looked at me as though I was crazy, “what has a duck ever done to you?” he asked, causing me to shiver and respond with “just exist” which baffled Ty even more but made Tessa and Jem burst out laughing. Through their laughing Jem somehow got out “that’s such a Herondale thing to say” which made me smile.

I regularly spoke to Tessa and Jem after that first initial conversation, which was something enjoyed by all involved. I did speak to Jace, but because he was in charge of the Institute over in New York he was busy a lot of the time. Saying that, he did make the effort to get to know “the newest Herondale” a bit better. I preferred to be known as the newest Herondale rather than the lost one. Where Tessa and Jem were able to tell about the Herondale family, the conversations I had with Jace were more about being convinced you belonged to one family only to find out you didn’t, and learning to adapt to the one you really did belong to. Jace had been brought up thinking he was a Wayland, then got adopted by the Lightwoods so felt a family loyalty to them, only to have Valentine convince him he was a Morgenstern. Finally he leant the truth that he was a Herondale. He once joked “I’m about 90% sure I have the right family name now, but you never know”. 

Despite often feeling uncomfortable around his family, and preferring the company of a select few, Ty made the effort to really get me involved with the rest of the “Institute family”. I had already started to get to know them a bit better, but often still felt like at outcast at times. To my surprise, it was Mark who helped Ty with looking after me, as all three of us felt like outcasts at times. There were times we were all quite happy to keep ourselves to ourselves and celebrate our times, but there were times we did our best to try and fit in. I wasn’t sure just quite how we were doing it, but whatever we did, it seemed to work. Mark seemed to sense that there was something more than just a friendship going on between us but he didn’t say anything. Julian seemed to realise that there was certainly some kind of friendship between us. Thankfully he seemed to support us, as, in his words “Ty doesn’t let many people in, the fact he’s let you in speaks volumes” which made me feel better, more so than I had expected it to.


	6. Chapter 6

The fact that I had accepted my Shadowhunter lineage seemed to have worked wonders with regards to the relationship I had with the Blackthorns and the other residents of the Institute. I still insisted on being called Kit, but as I had swapped my surname from Rook to Herondale, they seemed to accept this demand. When Ty initially said that the institute was my family, I had scoffed. The idea at the time had seemed ridiculous but I now realised it was far from it. I may have been the only Herondale they seemed to accept me as one of their own, in particular Ty, Livvy and Mark. Ty and I had been getting closer and closer, and eventually I asked him to be my boyfriend, which he accepted without a hesitation. Livvy had noticed something had changed between us, and demanded we tell her. When we did, she was so happy for us, and genuinely seemed delighted her twin had let someone else into his life. This made her really like me and she soon became my best friend of the Institute. Mark had spent the past five years as a rider of the wild hunt in faerie, so knew what it was like to feel like an outsider, so seemed to want to ease my transition into the Shadowhunter world which was really nice of him. The fact I spent a lot of time with him in the training room helped me get to know him better which helped. 

The only person we had confirmed our relationship to was Livvy but thanks to a certain 7 year old that was about to change. We were at dinner when Tavvy came out with “Is Kit your boyfriend Ty?” which caused everyone to look up and stare at us, making both of us blush like a pair of tomatoes. Ty then glanced and me, which made me take his hand in mine, and nod slightly. Ty then looked at the faces of his family and said simply “yes Tavvy he is. He asked me to be his boyfriend and I said yes” which got him a slight hand squeeze from me. Livvy, Dru, Christina (and to my surprise Emma) all let out an audible ‘aaawww’, Julian patted Ty on the back with a look of pride on his face and Mark just looked as us commenting “you guys are good for each other I think” which made me smile. Knowing that the rest of them were ok with us dating was a massive weight off my shoulders, as it meant I was going to made to feel like even more like an outcast, and Ty would have another reason to feel like an outcast. Once dinner was over, Julian asked to talk to me in private, which worried me slightly. Once everyone had gone, he looked me in the eye and said simply “promise me you won’t hurt him” causing me to take a step back and shake my head, stunned he would even consider such a thing “Julian I swear on my life that I would never do anything to hurt Ty ever. It would pain me to even consider such a thing” which seemed to satisfy him, as he then pulled me into a brotherly hug. It felt odd to feel such protection from someone but I have to admit it felt nice. I awkwardly hugged Julian back, not sure what else to do. Once the hug ended he patted me on the shoulder and said “go back to Ty” which was an instruction I was more than happy to follow.

I found myself hurrying to Ty’s room and knocked on his door, knowing he wouldn’t want me to just barge in. It wasn’t long before he opened the door and pulled me in, closing the door behind him. Ty looped his arms round my waist and I looped mine round his neck. “You don’t mind them knowing about us?” he asked, looking into my eyes. I shook my head “no because they accepted us. I’m not sure how long we could have hidden it” I said and kissed him softly on the lips. He smiled then, and I knew I would never get bored of seeing something as beautiful as Ty’s smile. “Good. I know we hadn’t decided when we were going to tell them and when Tavvy asked, I just told them. I was worried you wouldn’t be ok with be doing that” he said, and I could hear the concern in his voice. “Ty I trust your judgement” I said and with that he kissed me, longer and deeper than the last one. I could feel his tongue asking for entrance, which I gladly gave. 

We eventually broke for air. He then pulled me towards his bed, and we just laid there, Ty’s head on my chest, over my heart. Ty kept telling me all about the animals he had studied and his favourite Sherlock mysteries. Once he paused from his passionate speech about Sherlock, I took the opportunity to ask “have you seen the TV show?” which caused him to sit up and look at me with a look of curiosity on his face. “There’s a TV show?” he asked, unable to keep the excitement out his voice. I nodded “absolutely. It’s fantastic, you’ll love it. I’ll show you on the computer tomorrow if you want?” I said. Seeing his face light up at the prospect of getting more of his beloved detective was priceless. “Yes please Kit” he exclaimed, then leaned down to kiss me again. He laid back down in his original position, and kept asking me a bunch questions about the show. After a couple of hours, I realised it was late, so made a move to return to my own room. He grabbed my wrist, and with a face full of begging simply asked “Stay?” which found me return to his bed, and we both snuggled under the duvet. I wrapped my arms around arms around him, burrowing my face into his neck, breathing him in. Eventually we drifted off to sleep and it was the best night’s sleep I had had in a long time.


	7. Chapter 7

The following day, we had scarcely finished eating breakfast when Ty grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the computer room. I thought his excitement when he had found out about the show was adorable, but seeing now, about to watch it was something else altogether. He made me show him how to find the episodes, and when we had, we made ourselves comfortable (he had curled himself into me, and I had wrapped my arms round him) and we watched the first episode. Once it was over he sat up and looked at me, a massive grin on his face. “Kit that was AMAZING! Thank you so much for showing me that” he said which made me grin back at him. “How did it compare to the story version” I asked which caused him to talk ninety miles an hour comparing the two. He ultimately decided he couldn’t decide which he preferred. He eventually paused for a breath when I asked “would you like to watch the second episode?” which made nod with so much enthusiasm it made me want to protect him for eternity. Once I had set the second episode playing, we resumed our original position and got drawn into the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. We were so drawn into the episode that we didn’t notice Julian slip quietly into the room and put two plates of food on the floor next to us. It was only when the episode finished did we realise the food was even there. Ty alternated between eating the food and analysing the episode. I scarcely got a word in edgeways but I wasn’t complaining. 

Ty seemed confident he could find the last episode so I left him to it and took the plates back to the kitchen. Julian was in there, sitting at the table doing some boring looking adult work. “Thanks for the food Julian” I said (I hadn’t seen him come in but I presumed he had been the source of the food) and to my surprise he responded with “Thank you for looking after Ty” which made me stare at him with obvious shock on my face. Sensing my confusion he then continued “I saw you two in there Kit. I saw how you were holding him against you in a protective way. I’m sorry I doubted you” he said which made me smile. “Apology accepted. He’s your brother, of course you have every right to be protective” I said. Once I had cleaned the plates and put them away I went to return to Ty feeling as though I had been away from him for too long. I had reached the door when Julian spoke again “Oh Kit (I turned to look at him) seeing as though you are probably going to be here for a long while, you might as well start calling me Jules, everyone else does” which made me feel better than I had expected it to. “Sure thing Jules” I said, as an excuse to try it out, which made him grin. I left and returned to Ty. When I went back into the computer room Ty looked up at me saying “I thought you weren’t going to come back” which made me feel super guilty. Taking him into my arms I asked “why wouldn’t I come back?” which made him shrug “I thought that maybe you had gotten bored of me” which made me give him a protective kiss on the top of his head “I could never get bored of you Tiberius Blackthorn” I whispered. After a slight pause Ty started the next episode and we watched in each other’s arms. 

A couple of weeks after our Sherlock marathon, I had eventually done enough training I was finally deemed ready to get my first rune. To be honest I had no idea how to feel. I felt proud that I was deemed ready (it was quicker than a lot of people had predicted but my own determination, and Ty’s encouragement I managed to supress everyone’s expectations, including my own to get to this point) to take another step closer to become a proper Shadowhunter. However the more Shadowhunter I became, the more I had moments of guilt. My father had hated Shadowhunters, and had made me hate them too and had done everything he possibly could to keep me away from them. Yet as soon as he had died I had found out I was one of them, ended up living them and was becoming like them more every day. It was in these moments I felt like I was betraying him, betraying his memory and everything he had stood for. I voiced these feelings to Ty, and he pointed out that my father had lied to me, his own son about his true identity. Ty also admitted that he thought that I made a better Shadowhunter than a sighted Mundane which got him a soft kiss on the lips from me.

Ty had insisted that he stay with me during the ceremony, and made me promise him that he could apply the first rune after the ceremony. He looked so sweet when he asked me that I made the promise he wanted me to make, which made his entire face light up and hug me tightly. I hadn’t experienced a Silent Brother (who was still a Silent Brother…Jem didn’t count as he was no longer part of the brotherhood) before so I sat Ty down and made him tell me all about them. He seemed to like the fact that I was encouraging the fact he was clever rather than ignoring it or discouraging it like so many other people did. Although Ty gave me a bit of an information overload, it helped a lot. Silent Brothers were scary when you knew what you were expecting. Had I not had the conversation I would have had the scare of my life when Brother Enoch entered the room for the rune ceremony. Instead of being terrified I just felt really unnerved. There was something all too creepy about the guy and I decided that I would do what I would to reduce the amount of time I had to spend around Silent Brothers. Julian and Ty were in the room with me, which helped me deal with the ordeal as I had some familiar faces there with me. Once he had asked me the necessary questions, I held my hand out for Brother Enoch drew the voyance rune on the back of my hand. It stung a little bit, but I had been told this would happen and was perfectly normal so I didn’t let me bother me too much.

Once the ceremony was over Julian left with Brother Enoch, leaving me alone with Ty. As soon as the door was closed he wrapped his arms around me saying “I knew you could do it, you’re a proper Shadowhunter now” he said which made me hug him back and kiss his neck. When we finally let finally broke from the hug he looked me straight in the eye and said “you are going to keep your promise and let me put the next rune on you aren’t you” with all the seriousness only Ty could give. I nodded “a promise is a promise. Anyway I want the best person for the job to put runes on me and you are that person” I said, with equal seriousness. To prove my point I cupped his face and pulled him in for a kiss. It would have lasted longer had Livvy burst into the room saying the rest of the Institute were waiting to get the party they had organised for me started but couldn’t as I wasn’t there (and I had to be there, it was my party) so I slipped one hand into Ty’s and followed Livvy to this party. I hadn’t really had a proper party for me before, which made this one all the more special. Ty stayed with me the entire time, and I knew that I wasn’t going to forget the day in a hurry.


	8. Chapter 8

As promised, I let Ty apply my first proper rune. As Ty knew more about runes than I did, I let him chose which one he was going to apply. Ever since he had found out about my inherited Herondale phobia and absolute hatred of ducks, he had kept trying to get me to realise they really weren’t that bad. I on the other hand was having none of it. He’d gone as far as showing me a video of them on his phone (he claimed the video was ‘funny’) but I had taken one look at it, and jumped behind the sofa in absolute terror. Realising then the extent of me feelings towards the feathered beasts, Ty had put the video away and spent the next half an hour trying to coax me out from the sofa. He eventually got me out, only because he had promised a lot of cuddles to prove just how sorry he was. He decided then to change tactics, meaning that the rune he applied to my collarbone was the fearless rune Clary Fairchild had created. Normally I would have kept my body covered up, but when Ty had informed me that runes were more effective closer to the heart I had no problem undoing some of the buttons on the shirt I was wearing and exposing my collarbone to him to let him draw he rune onto my skin. It had stung a little but Ty promise me this was normal.

Once the rune was finished, I expected something to happen to prove it had worked but felt nothing. Ty then took my hand, saying that he had something to show me, and I was more than happy to follow his lead. He lead me out of the Institute and after a long walk, we ended up in near a pond in a local park. Swimming on the pond was an army of ducks, and for the first time in my life I wasn’t running away screaming in terror. Ty had picked one up (he always had a way with animals and ducks were no exception) and I found stroking the back of the bird with its beady eye staring at me intently. “See they aren’t that bad Kit” said Ty, with a smirk firmly on his face. He felt like he had won, and he had. That was until the rune’s effects had worn and the fear was back with a vengeance. I scrabbled back with such a force that it startled both Ty and the feathered beast he was holding, causing it to start flapping all over the place. It had scarcely gone when I jumped to my feet at sprinted back to the institute, leaving a stunned Ty behind me. I don’t remember much of my journey or my return to my room, but as soon as I was safe in the four walls that was my room, I curled up under my duvet, taking several deep breaths in order to calm down. After a while, I heard someone slip into the room and felt them awkwardly perch on the side of the bed and lightly put their hand on my shoulder. “Kit I’m so sorry. I genuinely thought I was helping” I heard Ty say softly.

It was then I realised that I had left him in the park and felt terrible for leaving him. I uncurled and came out from under my duvet and looked at him “I know you meant no harm, it’s just I’ve been terrified of those things my entire life and I don’t think a rune is going to make my fear go away any time soon. I’m sorry that my fear meant I ran away from you” I said then awkwardly just looked at my knees, the embarrassment of the event washing over me. I was a Shadowhunter, and Shadowhunters were meant to be brave, and I had run away from my boyfriend because of a stupid duck. I felt Ty move closer to me, then put his hand out and put his finger under my chin, lifting my face to make me look into his stormy grey eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It was my fault you ran away” and I was about to object when he leant forward and kissed me on the lips.  
Feeling Ty’s lips on mine, I shifted my position and ran my fingers through his hair bringing him in closer to me and deepening the kiss. Ty’s hands went to my hips and rested on the skin just under my shirt, causing me to moan slightly. Not wanting to break my lips from Ty’s I somehow managed to pull him down so he was lying on top of me. I felt my hips move slowly against his and felt his hands start undoing the buttons on my shirt, revealing my chest to him, his hands making the most of this new territory exposed to him. We eventually broke for air, panting slightly “I’m not making you feel uncomfortable am I?” he asked. I smiled at him sweetly “Ty you could never make me feel uncomfortable” I said, and to prove my point I fully removed my shirt, then returned my lips to his. Ty’s hands roamed all over my bare torso and it felt amazing. I wanted my own turn, so started to tug at Ty’s t-shirt. He seemed to get the hint as we broke again and he yanked the item of clothing off, exposing his toned chest to me. He looked incredible and I found myself whispering “wow” which made Ty give me one of his sweet little smiles. We were kissing again then. 

We stayed like that for a long time. I think we both felt like we had to make up for our earlier actions in the park, and were certainly doing that. It soon grew late, and we soon realised that lying in bed kissing your boyfriend took a lot of energy. Ty made a move to leave, but I grabbed hold of him and looked pleadingly at him “stay with me?” I whispered with a certain longing in my voice. Ty then wiggled down on top of me, he head rested lightly on my chest over his head. “Of course I’ll stay” he whispered. I started lightly running my fingers up and down his back, and he laced his fingers in my spare hand. We drifted off to sleep soon afterwards.


	9. Chapter 9

I woke up the following day, and it took me a moment to piece together what had happened the night before. I remembered the rune, and Ty taking me to see the ducks, only for me to freak out and run away, then Ty’s apology and us spending the rest of the day with our lips locked. It was hard to believe that it had all happened, but it had, and the proof was that I had a certain Shadowhunter lying, still fast asleep on top of me. That Shadowhunter being my boyfriend Tiberius Blackthorn. Looking at him asleep made me realise just how precious he was as there was a certain vulnerability about him that wasn’t there when he was awake. Wrapping my arms round his waist I just thought just how important Ty had gotten to me. He’d gone from being a Shadowhunter who had held a knife to my throat and struggled to look me in the eye, to being my defender at my door, keeping danger at bay, to my best friend to my boyfriend, and I knew just how lucky I was to have him in my life.

Not long after I felt Ty shift as he woke up. He then looked up at me, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and giving me a smile only Ty could produce, and I was brought back to the first thought I had had of Ty of “how beautiful” and he was, he really was. “Hey” he said, in that voice people used when they’ve only just woken up. “Hey” I responded with, and was about to say something else when he started talking again. It was only one sentence but it changed everything “Kit, I think I’m in love with you” and it took me a while to process what he had said. I was going to question whether he meant or not then remember something. Ty only said things he meant, and didn’t understand it when other people didn’t do that. I felt something stir inside me and in that moment I knew I was returning Ty’s feelings. “I think I love you too” I whispered back, which made him grin. He shifted his position, cupped my face and kissed me, and we both put everything we had into that single kiss. When we finally broke the kiss, Ty looked me straight in the eye saying “I’ve changed my mind, I don’t think I love you, I know I love you” and with that our lips had joined again. We only broke when we heard Livvy knocking on my door, saying in her cheery voice “Kit, Ty, I know you’re both in there. You two better hurry up if you want pancakes. Tavvys’ in there already and is eating them up like there is no tomorrow” and with that we heard her walk down the corridor.

Whilst she was talking, we were just staring at each other with goofy grins on our faces. Then something occurred to me “how did Livvy know you were in here?” I asked. Ty, of course had an answer “she probably went to my room, realised I wasn’t there so assumed I was here with you” which made me shrug. “Makes sense” I responded which made him chuckle “of course it makes sense, I said it. Come on, I want pancakes and by the sound of it Tavvys on an eating rampage” which made us both laugh. Once the giggling was over, we got out of bed, grabbed the tops we had just left on the floor, and joined everyone else in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure of the precise moment, but during our journey, Ty slipped his hand into mine. I gave it a quick squeeze before we entered the kitchen.

On seeing us enter together, holding hands, Livvy shot a triumphant look at Jules saying “I told you they had been together” which made us both blush. I somehow redeemed myself first “It’s not how you think it was Livvy. None of that stuff happened” which made everyone (with the exception of Tavvy, who was still happily munching away on pancakes) look at us with raised eyebrows. It was Mark who broke the silence. Looking at Ty he asked “tell us what happened brother” which caused Ty to glance over at me. After I gave him a supportive nod of the head he took a deep breath and started talking. He explained how he couldn’t understand my absolute fear and hatred of duck and had tried to do something about it. He explained how he had given me the fearless rune, which had worked but then had worn off, and I had run back in absolute terror. He then continued, saying how he had gone back to my room to make things up to me, and how that had escalated into us spending a lot of time kissing and I had asked him to stay the night. “Then we woke up this morning with the realisation that we both loved each other” he finished. Clearly nobody had expected him to say that, and they were all just staring at him, at us really. 

It was Jules that spoke and broke the silence. “Is that what happened Kit?” he asked. I nodded “that’s exactly what happened. Nothing more, nothing less” I said simply. “And you really do love Ty?” he added. Again I nodded “with all my heart” I responded. Jules then smiled then, walked over to us and brought us in for a slightly awkward hug, saying so that only we could hear “I am so proud of you two” then released us so we could finally eat breakfast. When we finally finished and were about to leave when Church decided to make an entrance and head straight for me. I was about to step over the cat, who hadn’t bothered me before when I noticed something. Attached to his collar was an envelope with my name on it. Releasing Church from his delivery I headed back to my room, with Ty following me to read the letter. I was about to open it when Ty looked at me “do you want me to leave so you can have some privacy?” he asked. I shook my head. “No, I want you by my side” I said, making Ty lean over and rest his head on my shoulder. I then open the letter and began to read.

Dear Kit,  
I hope this letter finds you well. Our conversations with you about the Herondales have got us thinking. As you have embrace your family, it seems only fitting that you should have your own Herondale family ring. We have put one in with this letter. Wear it with pride, you are a fine Herondale, never forget that.  
All our love,  
Tessa and Jem.

Inside the envelope was the mentioned ring, which I slide onto my finger. Ty took my hand in his, and on a matching finger, was his Blackthorn family ring.


	10. Chapter 10

A few weeks had gone by since I had gotten my Herondale ring, and I hadn’t taken it off since that day. It had also been a few weeks that we had admitted that we loved each other. Things had been going really well for both of us. I had been improving with my training and Ty was getting better at allowing physical closeness, although there were times when he would push me away, wanting his personal space, and would struggle looking me in the eye. I had learnt to deal with Ty when he got like that, as he knew it was temporary, and his moments of closeness made up for wanting his space. It was just a part of him. I remember when I had my first encounter with Ty, and how he had held a knife to my throat and had struggled to make eye contact. I had initially thought it was because Ty was a Shadowhunter, and Shadowhunters were arrogant, and thought the likes of a mundane (as I thought I was at that particular moment) were beneath them, but haven spent time with them I realised just how wrong I had been. 

Some nights we would spend together in some ones room, but some nights were spent alone. One night however was different from the rest. I had been in Ty’s room, but after a good nights kiss, and gone back to my own room. I had been asleep a couple of hours when I had heard a knock on the door. As I was still asleep, I thought I was dreaming, but it was only when I heard the knocking again did I realise that I most definitely not dreaming. I went to door and opened it, only to have Ty fling his arms around my neck, bury his head into my shoulder and start sobbing. I lightly put my hands on his waist and shuffle into my room, letting the door close behind us. I just made soothing noises until Ty had calmed down enough to look me in the face and tell me what had upset him so much. 

When he eventually had calmed down and looked at me, the look on his face broke my heart. It was obvious just how upset he was. “Sorry” he mumbled. I cupped his face then “Ty don’t apologise. Something has upset you and you came for some comfort. There is nothing to be ashamed about” I replies, stroking his cheek with my thumb. He gave me a small smile then, which made me ask “do you want to talk about it?” which made him nod. We detached ourselves from each other, and sat next to each other in my bed, my duvet covering our legs, and Ty’s head resting on my shoulder. “I had a nightmare about the mortal war. Sebastian Morgenstern had kidnapped my family and had them up in chains. He took one of them at a time, saying he would free them if I correctly answered his question. If I got it wrong or took too long to answer the question he would kill them before my eyes. I agreed to the challenge as it was the only way I thought I could save my family. He asked stupidly hard questions and gave me a short amount of time to answer the question. I took too long and would blurt an answer out just before the time ran out. I got it wrong every single time and they all died” he said and started crying again. 

I managed to shift my position so that my arms could loop round his waist. “It was just a nightmare Ty, and that’s all it’s going to be. Sebastian is dead so can’t get hold of your family. Anyway they are all capable to kick some serious butt if something happens and you are very clever so could answer any question some villain could ask” I said softly, then placed my chin on the top of his head. We stayed in silence for a bit before Ty replied “I’m just so terrified that I’m not good enough, that I’m the weak link in this family” which made me tighten my arms around him, bringing him even closer to me. “Ty, listen to me. It’s all good having a group with all muscle, but that muscle is useless without a brain. The others may be stronger than you, better at fighting than you, but they need direction as to where they take the fight. You are that direction, that brain. I wasn’t hear when you had the case with the Malcolm and Annabel but from what I have heard, you solved the majority of the case. Without you, they would have taken a lot longer to solve it, and more people would have hurt and killed. That is something you need to be so proud of Ty. You are not the weak link Ty, it’s just that your skills are different to the rest of them” I said, and breathed after my little speech.

Ty looked up at me then, with wide eyes. “You really think that Kit?” he asked, and I could tell how much he wanted my answer. “I don’t think that, I know that” I said, looking straight into his eyes so that he knew that I was telling the truth. He smiled then said softly “thank you” then after a slight pause “can I spend the rest of the night with you? I feel safe and protected from the world when I have you by my side” which gave me warm, fuzzy, protective feeling inside of me. “Of course you can stay. And if you ever feel unsafe or have a nightmare, you can always come to me. I love you Ty and don’t want you to feel unsafe or vulnerable” and with that we shuffled down and found ourselves falling asleep in each other’s arms.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up the following morning to find that, overnight, Ty had attached himself to me. We had fallen asleep with our arms wrapped round each other’s waist, but he had tangled his legs into mine and had tucked his head into my neck. I just pulled him closer into me and let him sleep. The nightmare he had had the night before really had unsettled him, so I decided to take it upon myself to do something to cheer him up. I was still trying to work out what that thing would be when Ty woke up. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes he looked at me, blushed and then buried his head into my shoulder whispering “sorry about last night” which caused me to kiss him softly on the top of his head. “Ty you have nothing to be sorry for. You had a nightmare that scared you and you sought comfort” I said. He looked up at me then and asked “You don’t think I betrayed Julian do you? I normally go to him if I get scared but this time I went to you” which made me shake my head. “I think Julian will understand Ty. You’ll still need him for some stuff and if you want to talk to him about it today you can do” I said comfortingly, which made him kiss me softly on the lips. “Thank you” he whispered once the kiss was over.

After a while, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and make it to breakfast. Ty slipped off with Jules to have a private conversation about his nightmare. Ty might be a genius but he would always need his older brother. I sat myself down next to Livvy, and had scarcely made myself comfortable when she leant over and rather excitedly went “Kit guess what?” which made me look at her in confusion. “What?” I asked as I had no idea why she was so excited. She frowned at me then and shook her head. “You’re not supposed to just say ‘what’ you’re supposed to guess!” she exclaimed. I smiled then, as that was such a Livvy response. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to be guessing Livvy” I replied, hoping this would cause her to tell me, either out of excitement or annoyance that I wasn’t going along with her guessing game. Livvy finally gave in “We’ve convinced Jules to give us a day of, so you can finally go on a proper date with Ty” she exclaimed with an enormous amount of enthusiasm. I just grinned like an absolute idiot. Mark, who had been listening to our conversation, leant over “better make the most of it, we don’t get days of very often” he said, and Livvy nodded in agreement. “So, what are you going to do with Ty on your date?” Livvy asked me. I just shrugged in return “honestly I have no idea, so if you have any suggestions I’d be very grateful” I said honestly. Livvy pondered for a moment then replied “well you could take him to the zoo, he’s always wanted to go, but for one reason or another, he’s never been” she said. I was about to respond when Jules and Ty returned.

I glanced over at Ty “Livvy has informed me that Jules has given us a day off, I was wondering if you would like to go to the zoo with me?” I asked. Ty looked over at me with a small smile on his face “a date then?” he said, answering my question with a question. I nodded “yeah, exactly like a date” I said, returning his smile. He slipped his hand into mine then saying “well in that case I would very much like to go to the zoo with you Kit” he said, which made me squeeze his hand lovingly. After breakfast was over, Ty left to get ready, I was about to follow him out, when I stopped. I hadn’t actually asked Jules if he was OK with me and Ty going out. Waiting for everyone to leave until everyone had gone, I turned to look at Jules, feeling suddenly very nervous. “Jules I was wondering” I said, and apparently I hadn’t masked my nerves as well as I had thought, as he just looked at me with a look of concern on his face. “I was thinking about taking Ty to the zoo today, I wanted to make sure you were ok with that first” I said, suddenly terrified that he was going to say no. He thought for a moment then said “if you two weren’t as close as you were, I’d have said no. But you are close and I know that you’ll look after him if he needs you to. So as long as you promise to have fun and enjoy yourself, I have no problem with the pair of you going off on a date” he said, which made me grin. “Thanks!” I said and then left, not wanting Ty to be waiting too long for me. 

I had just finished getting ready when I heard a knock on the door. Opening it, I found a very excited Ty waiting out in the corridor. “Ready to go?” I asked, and Ty gave a very excited nod. “Then let’s go” I said with the same level of excitement as Ty’s nod. Although this was our first official date, I didn’t want to push any physical contact onto Ty so had to stop myself slipping my hand into his. It was only a short walk to the zoo, and in the corner of my eye I could see Ty’s face just light up, which made my heart melt slightly. As the suggestion had been mine, and I was the one with mundane money on me, I brought us a couple of tickets. Ty had felt guilty that I had paid, but this disappeared when I suggested he tell me all about the animals we saw. I didn’t admit it to his face, but seeing his face was worth every single penny. We walked around slowly, so Ty could take everything in, and although I wasn’t an animal fanatic like he was, I did find the things we was telling me interesting. I had thought Ty’s excitement couldn’t get any bigger, but he proved this point wrong when he realised that there was an insect enclosure. Insects, and anything with wings were something that really got Ty’s interest, and it really was very excited seeing his eyes go very wide at seeing all the different varieties. 

Eventually we had seen everything in enough detail for Ty’s satisfaction, so we headed back to the institute. Ty couldn’t stop talking about the day which made me smile. When we got in, he would tell anyone that would listen about all the animals he had seen, which they all seemed to take in good grace. I guess it was because Ty liked to keep himself to himself, so the fact he seemed happy to talk (a lot) about his day was a rarity so they allowed it to happen. After we had eaten dinner, Ty practically dragged me back to his room, and we somehow found ourselves wrapped up in his duvet cuddling. “Thank you so much for today Kit” Ty said which made me smile. He then added “I do feel a little bad though” which made me worry. I frowned slightly “whatever for?” I asked, as I genuinely had no idea why on earth he would feel bad. “A lot of the stuff we’ve done, since being in a relationship has been based around me. You showed me Sherlock as you knew he was my favourite detective, you looked after me when I had my nightmare last night, and you took me to the zoo today because it was somewhere I wanted to go. I feel as though its’ all one sided and I feel bad” he said, and the guilt he was obviously feeling was clearly shown on his face.

“You don’t have to feel bad Ty. I love you OK and just want to be happy. I wanted someone else to appreciate Sherlock with me, and I knew you were the perfect person to do that. And seeing you today was just precious, as you really were just so excited to be there. May I remind you that when I first arrived here at the Institute you were my defender, sitting outside my room defending me and my need to adapt. So this is defiantly not one sided. You’re my boyfriend Ty and I love you, so please stop feeling guilty” I said. He nodded when I finished talking. He then gently took my face in his hand “ok, but promise me that our next date is something that you primarily want to do” he said. “I promise” I replied which made him snuggle into me. “I love you Kit” he said, before we both fell asleep. It seemed us sleeping together was becoming a regular occurrence, not that I was complaining.


	12. Chapter 12

“It doesn’t bother you, that I’m different from everyone else?” Ty had asked me suddenly one day. We had been in the library, doing some research for an investigation when he had asked the question. I looked up and shook my head. “Ty everyone has their own differences. The world would be very boring of we were all the same” I said confidently, but unfortunately my confidence didn’t rub off onto Ty. “Yeah, but there’s being unique and being your own individual and there’s being different. You for example are a unique individual whereas I’m different. I’m not like the rest of you. I like reading detective stories, studying animals and computers and don’t like much physical contact and really struggle being round people. No one else is like that. You guys are what Shadowhunters are meant to be like, you fight demons and train and well, have people skills” he suddenly seemed to run out of steam after his mini rant.

I decided that I would need to choose my words carefully before responding. Clearly the fact that Ty wasn’t entirely the same as the rest of the Institute was something that had been bothering him for a while. “Ty, you have to listen to me OK? When I was living in the Mundane world, there was a word for people like you (this caused Ty to sit up and give me his full attention) which was ‘autistic’ which was anyone with autism. It’s not a bad thing at all, and I don’t want you to think that it is. People with autism see the world differently to those who don’t have it. The find the world overwhelming at times, and struggle to communicate and form relationships with other people. They like routine, and change and surprises make them feel uncomfortable. They have highly focused interests, meaning that they only want to focus on things that interest them and don’t want to focus of the things that don’t interest them.” I finished and there was a slight pause when Ty was taking in what I had said.

“Is everyone with this…autism like me then?” he asked with a genuine interest. It’s not surprising I suppose, I was giving him an explanation as to why he wasn’t like the rest of us, and realising he may not necessarily be alone in how he viewed the world. I shook my head. “There’s an autistic spectrum. If you show the signs of autism you feature on the spectrum, but not everyone has it the same, some have it mild, and some have it quite bad. But like I said Ty, autism is no bad thing, it’s just another part of you” I said. He paused then got up and gave me a small hug then “thank you, for giving me a name for my difference. You’ve made me see that I’m not different, I’m autistic so thank you” which made me hug him back. Once he had sat back down I added “There are a lot of people who say Sherlock Holmes was neither a psychopath nor sociopath like he insists, but claim he, like you, features on the autistic spectrum” I said, which made his face just light up.

Some more research later, and we were summoned to the kitchen by Livvy for lunch. When we sat down Ty looked over at Jules “Kit thinks he knows why I’m different to the rest of you. He thinks I have autism, but he says it’s not a bad thing. He’s explained what autism is, and it does sound like me” he said. Although he had made the comment to Jules, we had everyone look at us. Not realising the awkward tension that he had caused, Ty prompted to tell everyone what I had told him about autistic, then applied it to himself, and even added at the end saying that it was very possible Sherlock Holmes also had autism. When he finished, Jules nodded “well that certainly does sound like you Ty I have to admit” which seemed to out Ty in a good mood. We then all proceeded to eat dinner when Ty then asked “now we know what my difference is, can I apply to the Scholomance?” which caused me to tense up. It was obvious I wasn’t the only one affected by this comment.

Rather than answer Ty, Jules looked over at me “has Ty told you he wants to study at the Scholomance Kit?” he asked gently. I shook my head “I don’t even know what the Scholomance is” I admitted, feeling slightly sick. Both Diego and Ty when to give explanations but Diego soon stopped, to allow Ty to explain (probably to know what he knew) “The Scholomance is an elite school for the best Shadowhunters, and teaches you how to deal with both Downworlders and Demons.” Ty certainly spoke with a lot of enthusiasm, and I could tell he had wanted to go for some time. Diego then spoke “I went to the Scholomance. What Ty hasn’t told you is that it can be quite harsh, and communication is very limited” I could tell that there was more to the matter that people wanted to tell me but I had heard enough so left the room to return to my own, to give me some space to think. I could see it was a place what would suit Ty very well, but what had hurt me the most was the fact that he hadn’t told me about it. What if he met someone there that was more similar to him, and, due to the limited communication, he forgot about me. I wasn’t family and out of everyone, I had known him the shortest amount of time. 

I had lost track of how long I had been hiding in my room when I heard someone knock on my door “Kit, it’s me…Ty. Please let me in so we can talk…please” I heard, and I was half tempted to leave him outside in the corridor like I had done when I had first arrived at the institute. But back then I only knew Ty as the Shadowhunter who had held a knife to my neck and couldn’t even look me in the eye. Things were different now, as he was my boyfriend and I was very much in love with him. I found myself opening the door and let him in. We stood in silence when I finally asked “If you wanted to go so badly why didn’t you tell me?” and he was struggling to look at me. “I want to go so much. Jules and Diana have openly said they don’t want me to go on a number of occasions. The others haven’t said either way but I guess they would agree with Jules and Diana. I was terrified that you would agree with them. Your reaction earlier seemed to prove my fear” and it was only when he had finished talking when he was able to look at me in the eye. 

“Oh Ty” I whispered. “I have to admit, by the sound of this….Scholomance, you would do very well. Your unbelievably clever and are tougher than the rest give you credit for, and unlike the others I know you will do very well. What worries me is that you will be surrounded by clever people like you, and you’ll forget about stupid old me, and want to spend your life with someone who you could have intelligent conversations with” I was going to continue when Ty stopped me by kissing me. When he broke he said softly “I don’t want some clever yet stuck-up pansy Kit, I want you. You’re not stupid so please stop thinking that you are. The Shadowhunters at the Scholomance might be clever, but that’s no guarantee that they will be nice, or understand me like you do. I will never ever what to forget you Kit Herondale, I love you far too much for that. If anything I’m scared that you will realise that you can do so much better than me whilst I’m gone, and I’ll be the person getting replaced” and when he was finished we were both crying. Somehow, through the tears, I managed to get out “well it looks like we are both worried about the same thing” which made Ty nod. 

I then had an idea. I removed my Herondale ring from my finger and gave it to Ty “I want you to have my ring Ty. That way you know, even when you’re off being clever, that my heart belongs to you. I will never leave you Ty” I said. Ty took the ring I had given him, then removed his Blackthorn ring, replacing it with my Herondale ring, then handed the ring he had just removed to me “there are loads of clever people out there, but there is only one person my heart belongs to, and that person is Kit Herondale. I love you so much it hurts Kit” he said, as I slid his Blackthorn ring onto my finger. I kissed him softly then then took his hand saying “that application form isn’t going to fill itself out is it? We can work things out Ty when you get it, not just between us, but with your family. Things always work out OK in the end.”


	13. Chapter 13

I admit, although I could see Ty doing very well in the Scholomance, I was still concerned about what would happen between us, although these concerns were, admittedly few and far between. Normally, when my doubts entered my head, I found myself playing with Ty’s Blackthorn ring on my finger, which normally calmed me down. We had filled in and submitted his application, but would have to wait a while before we heard anything back. If the application was successful. He would need to complete a number of tests to be taken to the next stage, and the tests, were, in Diego’s words “harsh” not that it bothered Ty of course. If he passed the tests, and was allowed to enter the Scholomance, he wouldn’t be able to go until he was 18, so I still had a couple of years with him.

Somehow, we made it to a 6 month anniversary which I’m really proud of. Although we had only been together for that long, I have to admit, it felt like we had been together for so much longer. Most people wouldn’t think that 6 months is that significant, but to me it was. In that time, I had accepted the fact I was a Shadowhunter and (if I say so myself) had drastically with training (although I was painfully aware that I had a lot of work to do, as I was nowhere near as good as the rest of them) and wore several runes on my body (with many of them having been put there by Ty. I had also, in that time, accepted my Herondale lineage and had learnt about my ancestors. Although I still insisted that everyone still called me Kit, I had changed my last name from Rook to Herondale. Within those months, Ty and I had gotten closer and closer, and it was thanks to him that my life had changes so much. Not many people liked changed, and once upon a time, it had scared me too. I hadn’t wanted to become a Shadowhunter as I had spent my entire life being taught they were monsters, not to be trusted and that I would never belong to them. Saying that, I never really fit in whilst living in the mundane world, and it was the Shadowhunter world where I felt as though I finally belonged. I had an honorary family with the Blackthorns (I still hadn’t met this Uncle Arthur of theirs. Of course I had heard all about him and he knew I was there, it’s just he never made the effort to meet me. Ty had assured me it was of no real loss, he had never really liked his Uncle) which, despite my initial uncomfortableness with them, I actually really liked, and I had loving boyfriend in Ty.

Ty had surprised me one day. He had asked me if he could organise something to celebrate the six months we had officially been an item, which of course, I allowed. I was curious as to what he would organise. On the day itself, Ty tried to be as secretive as possible. He hadn’t told anyone of his plans, should they, I guess come back to me. Either that or he was scared that they would laugh. At dinner, he leant over, saying that we would collect me at 7, and we would go and do what he had planned. I couldn’t help but feel excited. I didn’t really care what we did, so long as ty was with me. Once we had finished eating, Ty was off like a shot, and I wondered back to my room, a little like a lost puppy. The next 40 minutes seemed to last an eternity. I kept trying to think of stuff to do, to entertain myself, to act as a distraction but my mind kept wondering back to Ty, wondering what he had planned. Ultimately I just ended up staring out of my window, playing with the ring on my finger.

I heard a knock on the door at 7:00 on the dot, and I was at the door immediately, flinging it open to find Ty standing in the corridor. He looked at me awkwardly “ready to go?” he asked, and nodded my head enthusiastically. He then set off, with me obediently following him. To my surprise, we weren’t going to anywhere in the institute, rather Ty was leading us outside. This made me really interested as to what he had planned. We kept walking in silence, Ty’s hand in mine when we eventually came to a stop. We had arrived at a small clearing, which Ty had filled with blankets, cushions and bowls of foods. He had a portable speaker which he had plugged his phone into, and was quietly playing the music Ty spent so much of his time listening to. I could feel him looking at me, trying to make up his mind as to what my reaction was, but I had been rendered speechless, unable to take my eyes off the sight in front of me. It was obvious that Ty had put a lot of thought into planning and preparing what was in front of us, and I was so unbelievably touched.

My silence and lack of an obvious reaction ultimately got the better of Ty. “Is it ok? If it’s not, we can just go back to the Institute and just pretend that it didn’t happen, you saw nothing” he said, but was cut off when I turned and kissed him softly on the lips. “Ty it’s perfect. I just took a moment to take it all in that’s all. I wasn’t expecting you to have gone to such an effort for me” I said. A small smile spread on his face, and he took my hand and led me to the middle of the clearing and we lay down, with Ty’s head over my heart. We just stayed there, talking and listening to the music, occasionally eating the food he had laid out for us to eat. It wasn’t big, expensive or extravagant, and there are people on the world who would have turned their noses up at it, but I didn’t. I was so touched by what Ty had done. Like I had said to him, it really was perfect. It had gotten late, but neither of us wanted to venture back to the institute, so we just wrapped ourselves up in the blankets, making ourselves comfortable and fell asleep in each other’s arms.


	14. Chapter 14

I had heard a number of stories about Arthur Blackthorn from his nieces and nephews, but had never actually met the guy himself. There had been, of course been a handful of times where I had nearly met him, but for one reason or another we had ended up missing each other. Ty, I knew had a strong dislike for his uncle, and from what I had heard, Arthur wasn’t fond of Ty either. Livvy, Dru and Tavvy just seemed indifferent to their Uncle. Apparently there had been a time where he had scared of him, but he had hidden himself away in the attic, and had made no effort to get know them so the fear had changed to indifference. Jules just felt sorry for his Uncle and did what he could to help him. I had a feeling there was more to the matter than Jules was telling us, but I decided not to say anything. If Jules had wanted us to know, he would have said something. Mark seemed to be trying to make his mind up about his Uncle, as though he wanted to like him, but there was something stopping him. It was as though Mark, like Jules, knew more than he was letting on. 

Ty had, of course told me about his Uncle, should I ever get round to meeting him. It felt almost like a warning more than a description or explanation. He was, or had been Ty’s dad’s brother. Both he, and his brother along with some students from the Shadowhunter Academy had gone to the land of the faerie to rescue a Shadowhunter who had been taken (Arthur had gone, because Andrew had gone) and Andrew had fallen in love with a Faerie called Lady Nerissa, who was a lady of the seelie court, and it seemed she returned feelings for him. Arthur had stayed with Andrew and Nerissa’s sister made a claim on Arthur, which turned into torture. Andrew had initially been blind to his suffering at first, but had soon come to the realisation of what had happened. Lady Nerissa feared that Andrew would go mad with guilt and grief over what had happened to his brother, and somehow gave them new memories and had set up an “escape” in which Arthur had been released, had rescued Andrew and Lady Nerissa ended up dead…supposedly. 

Despite the fact they had left faerie, the effects remained. Andrew had had two small children left on his doorstep, whom he had named Helen and Mark, and had learnt they were Lady Nerissa’s children. He raised them with the same love he had for the rest of his children. Arthur had to deal with a mental illness, the result of the torture he had endured whilst in Faerie. All the Blackthorns knew Arthur had gotten bad, only Jules, who saw him on a regular basis knew just how bad he was. I could tell, whenever Ty spoke of his Uncle, and later about Mark that there was some underlying conflict. They were both adults, over the age of 18, so should be looking after the younger Blackthorns, but they hadn’t, that responsibility had fallen to Jules, and he had been doing that job since he was 12. Jules was responsible, reliable and understood his siblings. Arthur clearly wasn’t right in the head, and wanted to spend his time researching the classics and from the few interactions Ty had had with his uncle, it was obvious that he had no knowledge of how to look after children. Mark on the other hand, had spent 5 years in faerie, and despite being 21, he seemed closer to Jules’s age, and needed time to being back with the Shadowhunters (although, Ty did have to admit, he tried, and clearly wanted to make his siblings happy) meaning yet again the responsibility was left to Jules. Ty had once said “I want Jules to be my brother, not my parent, but I also want someone responsible to take that role, and unfortunately the only person who fits the job description is Jules”. I didn’t know what to say to that so I just held him close to me.

I had been in the training room with Ty when it finally happened. Ty was having one of his closed off moments, meaning that his headphones were on, his music was playing and he wasn’t interacting with anyone. I had been with Ty long enough to know that he got like this, and knew it wouldn’t last, it was just a part of Ty. I learnt how to deal with it, and knew that he would always come back to me, that I would have him in my arms once more. I had been practicing throwing daggers, and had been progressively getting better, but I still had a lot of work to do. The door had burst opened and there had been a man standing in the doorway, taking us both in. Ty had turned to see who had come in, only to go incredibly pale. Reluctantly he pulled his headphones away from his ears. “Julian isn’t here Uncle Arthur, he’s in his studio, do you want me to go and get him?” he asked softly, clearly desperate to leave. So this was the man I had heard so much about? In the corner of my eye I could see Ty desperately trying to get away and leave. I could feel just how uncomfortable he was feeling.

Arthur shook his head. “It’s not Julian I want. It’s you two” I felt sick. He didn’t know me, why would he want anything to do with me? Looking at me he asked “you’re not one of us, a Blackthorn. Who are you and what are you doing in our home?” then stared at me, waiting for an answer. “My name is Kit Herondale sir. I’ve been living here at the institute for the last few months, ever since my father died and I had nowhere else to go” I said, hoping that it would be a satisfactory answer for him. I didn’t really feel like discussing my father’s death with a man I hadn’t met. Thankfully he did accept my answer and turned to Ty, and I had a horrible feeling that things weren’t going to go well. “Tiberius we’ve discussed this. You know you can’t have mundane technology here in the institute and yet you insist on keeping that computer and your headphones. I’ve tried to be reasonable about this but you just won’t listen. Give me your headphones. I’ll dispose of them and then I’ll deal with that buzzing computer later” he said. Was he actually being serious? Was he actually trying to deprive his nephew of something that calmed him down and another thing that helped him focus, and helped him bond with his twin whilst aiding investigations? 

It wasn’t until I saw Ty take a step backwards, his hands clutching his headphones and shaking his head did I decide to do something. Moving to protectively stand in front of Ty, I said as calmly but firmly as possible “I can’t let you do that. I may not know you, and you may not know me, but I know enough to say what I have to say. I know Ty needs his music to deal with the world when it gets too much for him. I know he likes working out how that computer works with Livvy and they both use it for investigations. I cannot stand by and have you remove those things and make Ty suffer as the result, make the rest of the Blackthorns suffer as the result.” I stopped then, and started to panic that I, the new person had overstepped the line and would subsequently get thrown out to the streets with nowhere to go. Arthur looked as though he was about to retaliate when Jules, thankfully chose that moment to arrive and convinced Arthur to leave. I just stood looking at the door, trying to process what had just happened when I felt a set of arms wrap round my waist and a head rest itself between my shoulder blades. “You ok Ty?” I asked softly, and I felt the head shake, indicating that he wasn’t. “He’s gone now Ty. I won’t let him take any of your stuff away from you ok?” I added, trying to provide some comfort to him. I then moved so he was in front of me, looking into my eyes “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that and I’m sorry that was your first interaction with my Uncle. What did I do to deserve you in my life?” He asked. I smiled then. How Ty managed to be so sweet I don’t know. I cupped his face then “Ty, I don’t have time to tell you of all the things you have done to deserve me. It should be me asking the question not you. Of course I needed to say that, I love you” and with that I closed the small gap and kissed him.


	15. Chapter 15

It took a few days after my conversation with Ty for him to return to his usual self. I had kept my promise of protecting him, and although he didn’t say anything, I knew he appreciated it. Neither I nor Ty told Jules what had happened to cause the positive change in mood, and he didn’t ask. He just acknowledged that I had done something to get Ty back to his family, which he was happy about. This good period only lasted a few weeks however, as I soon found myself fully involved in a Shadowhunter investigation. Since I had decided to acknowledge the fact that was a Shadowhunter and started doing something about it, I was only involved with doing the research with Ty (not that I was complaining in the slightest) as I was not sufficiently trained to go out with the rest of the Institute Shadowhunters. However I had completely dedicated myself to the training, and was slowly getting better.

Ty and I were in the training room when Jules entered asking if he could have a word with me, which I agreed to and went to follow him out the room. Seeing as Ty and I spent so much time together, and were often assigned things as a pair, he assumed that he was also required, and made a move to also leave the room. Realising what Ty was Jules was doing, Jules had to kindly ask him to stay in the training room, that for once, I was needed alone. The hurt and confusion were clear on Tys’ face was so obvious that I felt a pang of guilt. I glanced over at Jules “could you give us a moment?” I asked, knowing that I needed to have a word in private with Ty. Jules seemed a little reluctant but ultimate decided to give in and stand in the corridor and wait for me to come out. Once we were alone in the room, I went over to Ty, cupped his face and made him look me straight in the eye. “If it was up to me, I’d have you there with me, but it’s not up to me. If I’m able to, I’ll tell you about it when it’s over. I promise” then leant down and kissed him softly on the lips. He didn’t say anything when the kiss broke, but gave me a slight nod to indicate he’d understood what I had said. I then joined Jules in the corridor and left.

We walked in silence until we reached the library, where we were met by Mark, and someone I hadn’t met before. The stranger had blue hair and the same pointy ears Mark had, which made me realise he was a faerie. There was something going on between Mark and this faerie but I couldn’t quite work it out. The faerie kept looking at Mark with a certain longing on his face, but Mark was promptly not looking at the faerie, as though he had been hurt by him in some way. It was Jules who made the introductions and gave the explanations. “Kit this is Kieran, a faerie who Mark used to ride with in the Wild Hunt. He’s come to the Institute to ask for our help. Some faeries are selling faerie food disguised as mundane food at the Black Market, meaning it’s something that we need to deal with. As someone who has spent a lot of years at the Shadow Market, we were wondering if you could help us?” and when he finished, I was aware of three sets of eyes staring at me. 

I felt sick. I had managed to get the inhabitants of the Institute to stop seeing me as just “the son of Johnny Rook” but I knew that, to the traders of the Shadow Market, that’s all I was, the son of a man who traded in lies and secrets. I was about to turn them down when I heard a small voice at the back of my head, telling me that for once, I was needed, that I had something valuable to the Shadowhunters. Emma had been to the Shadow Market, but she didn’t know it the way I knew it, meaning it was my help they needed, not hers in the investigation. I had often felt like the weak link, having not had as much training as the rest of them, but in that moment, I was able to shake that feeling off. I nodded, “Yes, I’ll help you” I found myself saying. There seemed to be a huge sense of relief when I agreed to help them. 

I’m not sure quite how it happened, but I found myself sat at a table, essentially being integrated by Mark and Julian about everything that I knew about the Shadow Market. Kieran generally kept quiet, but would occasionally add something to the conversation. In most cases it was making the link between what I had said and the activities of the faeries. I’d told them everything I knew, and by the end of it I was absolutely exhausted. Julian had finally let me go, but said we would be going to the Shadow Market the following morning to investigate. As promised, I went to Ty’s room to tell him what had happened. I had scarcely finished knocking on his door when he had flung it open and wrapped his arms round me. I just hugged him back, feeling guilty at being away from him for so long. Once the hug broke, we just laid on the tip of his bed and told him everything that had happened in the Library. It was during my re-telling that I finally learnt what happened between Mark and Kieran.

I had told Ty that there had been a faerie in the Library and he just looked at me and asked “Was his name Kieran by any chance?” which made me sit up and look at him. “How did you know that?” I asked, generally confused. Ty then looked with a look of realisation on his face. “I’d forgotten that all happened before you got here. Kieran, like Mark had been made to force the Wild Hunt against his will, and like Mark, none of the other riders liked him. He and Mark got really close, and ultimately fell in love with each other. That love continued even when Mark came back to us, but one evening Kieran saw Mark and Christina talking and got jealous. He went back to the Hunt and told the leader that Mark had been spilling secrets of the Hunt to a non-rider, hoping it would mean that Mark would come back to the hunt and be with him. It didn’t work as some of the hunt came to the Institute to whip Mark with a faerie whip. Julian and Emma intervened and took the whipping for Mark. Mark broke up with Kieran as it was his fault Julian and Emma got whipped. I think Mark want to hate Kieran for what happened but deep down I think he still loves him. Kieran I know loves Mark, which is why he keeps coming to the institute, to report stuff, to help us in any way he can. It’s a shame really as I think they made each other happy.”

We remained in silence after Ty had finished telling me about Kieran and Mark. It was Ty that poked me in the ribs reminding me that I hadn’t actually finished telling him what had happened. Lying back down, I promptly finished telling him what had happened, finishing with “we’re going to the Shadow Market tomorrow to investigate.” I had expected Ty to insist that he was going to be part of the investigation, but he just curled himself into me, making me promise that I came back to him safely, which I did without hesitation. I woke up the following morning with Ty in my arms. I just stayed like that for a few moments, appreciating how beautiful he looked when he was sleeping. Once he had woken, he insisting that he helped me get ready. We had a quick kiss before I joined the other three. Whatever I felt, I had to pretend that I felt confident. They needed me, and it would do no good for the nerves to get the better of me now. The awkwardness between Mark and Kieran was still there, but at least I could focus on the task in hand rather than question what was going on between them.

Despite the fact I had made the effort to arrive a couple of minutes early, I was still the last to arrive. Despite not having been in the library, we were joined by Emma, but as she was Jules’s parabatai, I decided not question her presence. On realising that I had joined them, Jules announced it was time to go, and then asked me to, in his words “lead the way” which I did. In that moment I don’t think that I had ever felt so powerful. Arriving at the Shadow Market, I was joined by Kieran, and between us, we managed to find the faeries we were there to find. In all the years I had been in the Shadow Market, I had perfected the art of being invisible. Nobody would pay me any attention, but walking through it now, surrounded by a faerie and three Shadowhunters (I don’t care what people said, I, like most of the Institute considered Mark nothing less than a Shadowhunter) I could feel the eyes on me. I wanted to hide, to become invisible but instead I had to hold my head up high. 

Once we had found the faeries we had wanted my job was put on pause (I was there to provide information about the Shadow Market, and help them find their way around, the actual interrogation and capture of the faeries was the job of the rest of the group) meaning that I just took a step back and watched the events unfold in front of me. I had always been good at having an awareness of what was going on around me, but in that moment my awareness failed me. It wasn’t until I had someone’s arm round my neck and could feel a knife at my back did I realise someone was there. I heard them say coldly “you’re a backstabber, you know that Rook?” which took me surprise. I had dropped the surname Rook several months ago, and had replaced it with Herondale. “You’ve brought those Nephilim and that Prince (I hadn’t realised that Kieran was a Prince) who rides with the Wild Hunt into our Market. You will suffer for this.” I made a move to grab one of the daggers Ty had given me when I heard the voice behind me say “I wouldn’t do that if I were you Rook, we have more weapons than you could possibly imagine” they then muttered something to someone who was behind me, and before I knew what was happening someone had put something over my head and I had been knocked to my knees.

I hadn’t realised how much hate I would receive from those in the Shadow Market for helping with the investigation. Sure there were people who needed to be ‘dealt with’ but that had happened in private, not in the middle of the market. The fact that they made no effort to hide what they were doing to me clearly meant that they didn’t think that anyone would stop them. Someone had tied behind my back to prevent me from trying to get my weapons. Sure I hadn’t many friends within the Market, but surely I wasn’t so unpopular that people would watch me suffer. That’s when the pain started. I’m not sure how many people were there making me suffer, or what they were using to inflict pain, all I knew that there were a few of them, and whatever they were using hurt. A lot. I sense that a crowd had formed as I heard people actually supporting those hurting me. It was then I realised that the combination of being the son of Johnny Rook, and showing support for the two groups of people who were disliked had set me up as a target. I had tried calling out, trying to get the attention of Jules, Mark or Emma (Hell, at this point I’d have even accepted Kieran’s help despite the fact that I scarcely knew him) in the hope that they would help me, but to no success. 

A thought soon dawned on me. Maybe they didn’t actually like me? That they let me stay at the Institute because of some law that told them to, and they had got me involved in the investigation because they needed the information. In that moment I welcomed the pain, feeling so alone. As my head was covered, I couldn’t see what was going on, I was just aware of some shouting and then the attack I was in the centre of stopped. Oh God, I hoped they hadn’t gone to get something to make the pain worse. To my surprise the exact opposite happened. The thing that had been covering my head had been removed and I managed to glance up and saw Jules looking down at me with obvious concern on his face. “It hurts” was all I was able to say before losing consciousness. I’m not sure how long I was out, but when I woke up I was in the infirmary and Ty was sitting next to me, and it was obvious he had been crying. “Hey” I managed to get out, indicating that I was awake. Ty just jumped up and took me in his arms, and holding me close.

Once his relief at me finally coming round had somewhat subsided, he promptly told me everything that had happened. The faeries what had been under investigation had tried to do a runner soon after they realised that we had been onto them, causing the rest of the group to run after them (which is why they had been unaware I was being beaten up) but they had soon caught up with them and had arrested them so they could be handed over to the Inquisitor. On their return they had seen a crowd encouraging a smaller group to beat someone up. It hadn’t taken them long to realise that the person that was beaten up was me. Kieran had stayed with the prisoners whilst Emma, Mark and Jules had run over and saved me. I had blacked out, and Mark had carried me all the way back to the Institute. Emma had stayed back with us, whilst Jules had run ahead and summoned a Silent Brother to attend my injuries. Ty had been distraught over the fact that I had been hurt, and Livvy had had to physically restrain him to prevent him from charging into the infirmary to be with me whilst the Silent Brothers were in there healing me. Realising that he couldn’t be with me, Ty had turned his hurt at my being injured to anger at those who had been at the Shadow Market but had allowed themselves to not keep an eye on me, meaning that I had been suffering for as long as I had (and the fact that I had been suffering at all) and as none of them could argue against what was being said, they had taken Ty’s yelling. As soon as the Silent Brothers had done what they needed to do with me, and had left, Ty had gone straight to my side and had resumed his role as my protector and had stayed there ever since. That had been two days ago.

I apologised to Ty for causing him so much fear at my getting hurt, but he had silenced me with a kiss. “It wasn’t your fault Kit. You must not think this is your fault” he said, and I could feel a lump in my throat, and I had had a feeling that Ty was holding back tears as well. I cupped his face in my hand saying softly “thank you, for staying with me when I was healing” which caused him to smile at me. “I did it because I love you” he said, not taking his eyes off my face. I smiled at him then before replying “I love you too Ty” and I’m not sure who instigated it, but Ty’s lips were on mine and we were kissing, and in that moment, it was just me and Ty, and nothing else in the world exist.


	16. Chapter 16

The run up to Helen and her wife’s return was a weird period. It brought the Blackthorn siblings together, as they worked together to make the day special for them. That did mean that I was left on the side-lines with Kieran, Christina and Diego, as none of actually had met them. I make it seem as though the four of us stuck together, united in our awkwardness, but I Christina took the opportunity to hide in various places of the Institute playing tonsil tennis. That left me and Kieran. We tried to get excited for Mark and Ty’s sake, and do what we could to help, but mostly we just let the siblings get on with it.

The day of arrival finally came, and the entire Institute was buzzing with excitement. It was alive with excitement. I heard Helen’s arrival before I saw it, as there was a huge shout of excitement and I was suddenly aware of a huge mess of Shadowhunters in the middle of the room. I was standing next Kieran, so I looked over asking “think we should give them some privacy?” to which he nodded and together we headed towards the door. We were just about to leave when I felt someone grab hold my hand and a voice saying “you guys aren’t leaving are you?” which made us both stop and turn round. It had been Ty that had prevented our escape, and I could see in his eyes that he was begging me to stay. “We were going to give you and your family some privacy” I said, suddenly aware of all the eyes looking at us. Ty shook his head “you don’t get it, you’re a part of this family, both of you” (the last bit had been directed at Kieran, who had, by this point been joined by Mark). I couldn’t leave after he had said that. 

It was Helen (well the one I thought was Helen, it was her resemblance to Mark that made me guess) who spoke next “Ty, Mark, aren’t you going to introduce us?” which caused both Ty and Mark to start talking at the same time. The brothers then glanced at each other, and with a small nod from Ty, Mark started talking “Helen, this is Kieran. He’s my boyfriend. Kieran, this is my sister, Helen” he said, and the pride in his voice was so obvious for us all to hear. Kieran and Helen then shook each other’s hand, before she came over to me and Ty. Ty had slipped his hand into me and pulled me close to him. “Helen meet Kit, the boyfriend I’ve been telling you about, Kit, this is Helen, my older sister” said Ty and I blushed so much at the realisation that Ty had been talking about. Helen just looked at me and grinned. “So you’re the famous Kit?” she asked, causing me to shrug “I guess I am” I said simply. I wasn’t sure what else to say. “It’s clear from when Ty talks about you just how much he loves you. Tell me Kit, do you return his feelings?” and I could feel Ty’s eyes on me. “Of course I do! I love him like you have no idea” I said, which caused Ty to lean over and kiss me on the cheek. 

The rest of the day went as well as we had hoped. Ty kept me by his side the entire time, and kept running his thumb over the back of my hand, reminding me that I belonged, not just to him but to his family. Stories were swapped and plans were made for the future. That night, Ty and I just lay in Ty’s bed, him curled up against me, and my fingers running lightly up and down his back (it was a warm Summer’s night so neither of us had bothered wearing shirts to bed. Even though I had seen Ty without his shirt on before, it still took my breath away) and we just talked about how the day had gone. It was during this conversation Ty admitted to me he was glad Helen was back, as it definitely meant that Julian could return to being his brother. I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just kissed him on the top of the head. I eventually asked what had been on my mind for most of the day. “Did you mean it, what you said, about me being a proper part of the family?” I asked, desperately wanting to know. Ty shifted his position so he was looking me in the eye. “Of course I meant it. We all think it. You might be a Herondale Kit but you’re still one of us” which made me grin. 

He leant down then kissing me on the mouth, his tongue asking for an entrance I was more than happy to give. He shifted again, so his hips straddled mine, with his hands pinning my wrists by my head. He broke the kiss then, and I tried to lift my head, to get him to kiss me again, but wasn’t able to because he was pinning me down. He then began to trail a series of kisses down by jaw, onto my throat (pausing to suck on a sensitive point which was guaranteed to leave a mark) then down my chest. He then came back up, and was kissing me again. I swear I never wanted anyone as much I wanted Ty in that moment. I felt like my heart was going to explode in my chest with all the love I had for him. When we broke again, I looked him in the eyes and whispered hoarsely “I love you so much Tiberius” which caused him to capture my lips again, putting so much love into that kiss that I completely believed him with every ounce of my being when he replied “I love you too Christopher”. We slept together that night, wrapped in each other’s limbs, and lips swollen from our kissing.


	17. Chapter 17

Just over a week after Helen’s return, came a day that was very significant in my relationship with Ty. On that day, one year earlier, I had asked him to be my boyfriend, and he’d accepted. I honestly hadn’t expected him to agree to be my boyfriend, nor had I expected for our relationship to have lasted for as long as it did but I’m so glad he did, as the last year had the best year of my life. As a result, I wanted our anniversary to be special, which turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected. I decided to do something small rather than big and extravagant, because that just wasn’t us. What I hadn’t realised was Ty was also doing what I was doing, in the sense he too wanted to make the day special.

It was Livvy that ultimately let the cat out the bag, by making some comment about Ty panicking as he couldn’t think of what to do for the following Friday (the day of the anniversary). When I had asked her about it, she seemed to then realise what she had said, and refused to say anything else. I realised that my only option was to talk to go and talk to him. After a slight pause, I knocked on his door saying “Ty, it’s me. Can I come in?” and after a slight pause, the door opened, and Ty let me. I could tell something was bothering him immediately. He was playing with the bottom of his sleeves and was struggling to look me in the eye. Despite the fact I desperately wanted to go over and hold him against me, I knew that when he got anxious, he wanted his space. I sat on his bed, then said “Livvy said you were worried about next Friday, because you weren’t able to get any ideas” and hoped that was all the prompts he would need to open up. He looked at me then and said softly “I love you and I wanted the day to be perfect for you, but I’m not sure how I’m going to do that” which made me laugh. The look of hurt on Ty’s face was unmissable. “It’s not funny Kit!” he exclaimed, which made me smile. “It is funny Kit, because I’ve been in the exact same positon as you.” He then looked at me with a surprised look on his face. “You have?” he asked, and when I nodded, he joined me on the bed, and laced his fingers through mine. We spent the rest of the day just talking about whatever came into our heads. I honestly lived for moments like, where we could just be together, enjoying each other’s company. 

When the day came, I’d woken up in Ty’s bed. Glancing up I saw Ty looking at me with such a sweet smile on his face that I felt my heart melt. “You are so beautiful when you sleep” Ty whispered, which made me smirk, and roll onto my stomach to look at him. “Not nearly as beautiful as you” I responded, which made him look confused. “You think I’m beautiful?” I asked. I nodded in response “when I first saw you, my thoughts weren’t of how I was going to hurt you, but simply ‘How beautiful’ and that hasn’t changed, and will never ever change” then softly kissed him whispering “happy anniversary my love” which made me smile. We stayed in bed a bit longer, only being forced out when a note was forced under the door and the sound of footsteps were heard running away. I grabbed the note, and opened it, only to look confused a second later. Ty then joined me, to see the source of my confusion. 

As it turns out, whilst Ty and I had been worrying about how we were going to mark an entire year since we started dating, the rest of the institute had been planning away, and had created a Sherlock style case for us to solve. They had left clues all over the Institute that would lead us to the next clue. Not only did we find a clue but something that linked to our relationship. There were three photos, three stories of something we had done and three bits of memorabilia from our relationship (such as a leaflet from the zoo I had taken Ty on our first date). Ty soon realised that each clue had come from a different person from the Institute which gave us an indication of how many we needed to find. There had been nine clues overall within the Institute, with the last one indicating that we needed to head down to the beach. On our way down, we had found three more references to our relationship (one from each category) from Christina, Diego and the final one from Tessa and Jem. 

The sun was starting to set once we had finally joined everyone on the beach and thanked them for what they had done for us. As it turned out, whilst we had been solving our case, the others had been on the beach collecting driftwood for a large bonfire. Once Julian had got the fire going, we just sat around talking and laughing. I had sat between Ty and Livvy, my boyfriend and best friend. Since I had been at the Institute, we had been knighted ‘the three musketeers’ and the name suited us well, as there was nothing the three of us wouldn’t do for the two. In that moment, surrounded by the two people who meant the world to me and the family that had accepted my as part of their own, I can honestly say was the best moment of my life.


	18. Chapter 18

The next month was spent in a small bubble of love with Ty. We spent as much time as we could together, whether that was training, investigating in the library, going on patrol or just enjoying being in each other’s company. But something happened which threatened all of that. There had been a report of a nest of demons, and it was decided that everyone except Dru and Tavvy would be needed to help get rid of them. There was a tension in the air as we were getting ready that wasn’t normally around for a routine demon raid. The tension and the need for as many people to be involved meant it was serious, and that worried me slightly. I knew that I would do whatever I could, to not only kill as many demons as possible, but to make sure that I, as well as the others, came out of this Ok. 

Once we arrived at the Demon nest, there wasn’t any sign of the Demons so we decided to split up into small groups to spread out and flush them out. Mark went with Kieran, Helen with Aline, Julian with Emma, Christina with Diego and me with Ty and Livvy. It wasn’t long after we had split up, that I got a horrible feeling that things weren’t going to end well. It was this feeling that heightened my senses and made me even more alert. We hadn’t been looking long when we found them. I saw the first one come up behind Livvy, and that’s when my Shadowhunter training kicked in, and I was able to throw a dagger and a killed it immediately. We soon realised that there more demons than we were expecting, and they were worse than the ones we were expecting.

The original plan was for each small group to find the Demons and to flush them out of their nest, for all of us to battle. I realised in horror that not all plans work, especially when Demons are concerned, who don’t particularly want to play ball with Shadowhunters. That meant I was stuck in an enclosed space with Livvy and Ty fighting a lot of angry demons, with no way of getting the others to join us. I just hoped that we were making enough noise that someone heard us and came to help. It seemed as though we weren’t making any progress. For every Demon we killed, another seemed to take place. I’m not sure how long we’d been fighting when it happened. A demon had caught one of my legs, pulling me to the floor. I had rolled over to see a demon launch itself at me. I had just reached my hand out for my seraph blade when the Demon exploded, leaving a grinning Mark looking down at me. Extending his hand to me he said “cavalry’s arrived” and as I stood up, I realised he was right. The others were there, and it finally felt like we could win.

We had nearly reached the end of the fight when the terrible thing happened. I glanced over at Ty, to make sure that he was ok when a Demon stuck its claws into his stomach. Once they had been removed, Ty just fell to the floor like a puppet cut from its strings. The whole thing happened in slow motion, but as soon as he hit the floor, I snapped back into reality and into action. I made quick work of sending the demon back to whatever hellish dimension it had come from, and went to Ty’s side. The others were fully capable of dealing with the few Demons that were left. I just cradled Ty and felt tears start falling down my cheeks. “Ty” I whispered, as that’s all I could manage. “Ty please wake up. Please come back to me. I can’t do this Shadowhunter thing on my own. I need you” but Ty didn’t wake up. He didn’t move, or do anything to indicate he had even heard me. I put my fingers to his throat, and felt a pulse, but it was weak. He was losing a lot of blood, and if something didn’t happen soon, I could lose Ty. 

I’d managed to apply a couple of Iratze’s by the time I was joined by Jules. Taking one look at Ty’s injury and swore. He looked me in the eye saying “Kit, if you want to help Ty you’re going to have to let go and let me take him” and although I didn’t like the idea of letting Ty go, but knew it was for the best. Kissing him lightly on the forehead, I passed Ty over to Jules, who picked his brother up and carried him out of the nest to the car, where Emma was waiting to drive them back the Institute (I didn’t know it at the time, but she’d also called Jem and Tessa and got them to summon a Silent Brother). I’d gone to follow them, but felt a set of arms wrap round me, holding me to the spot. I just broke down then. Ty had been hurt then, and I felt as though it had been my fault. After the insistent with Arthur, I had promised Ty that I would protect him, and yet, when it had mattered, when Ty’s life had been in danger, I had failed to do just that, and now he was dying and there was nothing more I could do. I sunk to my knees, my emotions getting the better of me. It was the day my father had died all over again: someone I loved had been hurt at the hands (or claws) of a Demon and I had just watched. Only this time I had been armed and had been trained which made it worse, and I hated myself for it. 

Livvy had come over and wrapped her arms round me, and together we grieved. She felt responsible for Ty, as I did, and like me, felt responsible for what had happened. Somehow the others convinced us to return to the Institute, with me and Livvy clinging onto each other for support. As soon as we had returned, we went straight to the Infirmary to see how Ty was doing, not bothering to remove our gear or wash the dirt and blood that covered us. The others didn’t stop us, as they knew the fight we would put up if they did. We found Jules angrily pacing outside the infirmary, which wasn’t a good sign. On seeing us approve, he just hugged us both, saying that the Silent Brothers were doing what they could to save Ty, but he had lost a lot of blood, and had taken in some demon poison. Once he had finished talking, it seemed that any energy any of us had was gone, causing us to just sit on the floor holding hands, and using each other’s strength to get through it. 

An eternity seemed to have passed before Brother Enoch came out of the Infirmary. I’ve never seen three people move so quickly as me, Livvy and Jules did to get up off the floor and hear what he had to say. “Tiberius is weak, and his injuries severe but he will survive. He will need to rest. He will take time to heal but he is strong. I will return tomorrow to change his dressings. Let me know if there is any change in his condition, whether it be for better or for worse” he informed us, and when he was done, he left us. Slowly, we walked into the infirmary, terrified of what we would see. Ty was in one of the beds, and looked so vulnerable. He was pale, and it was obvious he had no strength, but at least he was conscious. Jules and Livvy sat one side of him, and I sat the other side. I took one of his hands in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand. “Hey Ty” I said softly, fighting back another surge of tears. He gave us a small smile before asking “the Demons, did you get rid of them?” he asked. Livvy smiled then “every last one of them” she said, which seemed to satisfy Ty. “Are the others OK?” he asked then, looking at Jules. He nodded then “their fine, just worried about you, that’s all” he responded. Ty looked sad then, saying “I’m sorry for getting hurt and worrying you all” he said, causing me to tighten my grip on his hand. 

“You mustn’t feel guilty Ty. It wasn’t your fault the Demon got you” I said, wanting to say more but my emotions got the better of me, causing me to start crying again. I stood up then, with Livvy and Jules followed. I glanced at Ty saying “I think you should get some rest” then turned to leave. Ty then grabbed my hand saying “stay with me Kit, please” and I couldn’t tear myself away from him and cause him more pain and suffering, so I sat back down, my hand still in his, my eyes not leaving his face. I heard Jules mumble something about giving us some privacy and both he and Livvy left us. Once the door closed behind them, Ty looked at me saying “I heard what you said, after I got hurt and you were holding me” which caused me to give him a weak smile. “I meant it Ty” I said softly, brushing some of his hair out of his face. “I’m sorry I scared you” Ty mumbled, causing me to shake my head at him. “We’re Shadowhunters in a relationship. I guess there were always going to be moments like this. I hate it, but I think we’re strong enough to get through those moments” I said, then stood up and kissed him. He might have been weak, but he still managed to kiss me back.

I stayed with Ty the entire time he was in the infirmary. People came and visited, to keep us company and give us food so we wouldn’t go hungry. As Brother Enoch had said, he had come day after day to change Ty’s dressing. I hadn’t wanted to look at injury, but had forced myself to look. It was horrible, but at least it stopped my imagination from running wild making it worse. One day, Ty had looked at me and asked “why are you still here? Why aren’t you using this opportunity to get rid of me and find someone normal?” which caused my heart to break. I found myself clutching Ty’s hand then and said “Ty I don’t someone normal, I want you. It’s you I’ve fallen in love with, not some normal person. I wouldn’t want to give my heart to anyone else but you, and I would give it to you, again and again” which made Ty give me one of his beautiful smiles. He then shuffled over on the bed, giving me room to join him. He was still injured so I was careful because of it, but it was great to be next to him, to have him in my arms again.


	19. Chapter 19

A few weeks after Ty was able to leave the infirmary was the annual testing. I have to admit, I was terrified. I’d missed the last one, as I hadn’t had enough training, and Jules had put up a fight to allow me to remain at the institute to train, rather than go to the Shadowhunter Academy, something I was very grateful for. I’d heard all about the Academy from one of Jace’s friends Simon, and from what he had said, I really didn’t want to go. My fear for the testing, and my determination not to go to the Academy made me spend all my time training and studying. I also felt like I owed it to Jules, for sticking his neck out for me by allowing me to stay. 

The day of testing came, and somehow my nerves had gotten worse. I had developed that annoying habit people do when they get nervous and had started pacing. Everyone got tested individually, and I was one of the last to go, which meant a lot of pacing. Ty tried to calm me down by getting me to sit next to him, and taking my hand in his, and lightly rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. It was something I had often done to Ty to help him calm down, so it was sweet of him to return the favour. It actually helped, until Ty was called for testing. This set my nerves off again, as not only had I lost my calming influence, but it was meant that I was going next. 

I have no idea how much time had passed since Ty’s departure, but eventually my name was called. I felt sick, but was determined not to let my nerves show as I got taken to testing. There were two parts to the testing: a physical part in which you were required to show your ability with a variety of weapons, and an intelligence part: in which they asked you a variety of questions on a number of different topics, such as Shadowhunter history and politics, runes and demons. Both parts of testing were a challenge in their own way and I have no idea how I did. Once I had finished, my immediate gut instinct was that I had done Ok, but the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself otherwise.   
When I was finally reunited with Ty, he didn’t immediately say anything, he just looped his arms round my waist, and lightly rested his head on my shoulder. I lightly kissed him on the shoulder as I looped my own arms round his waist and pulled him close to me. He eventually turned his head to look me in the eyes. “How did you do?” he asked gently. Not taking my eyes off him, I replied saying “I left thinking I had done alright, but now my brain is trying to convince me otherwise” I replied honestly. “How did you do?” I returned. Ty gave me one of his precious smiles then, which was a good thing. “I did good (then softly so I was the only who could hear what he said next) they think I could be Scholomance material” and although my heart contracted when he said that, I knew that’s what Ty desperately wanted. I then replied, equally softly “Ty that’s excellent” then gently kissed him on the lips.

Once the kiss broke, we re-joined the rest of the Blackthorns. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement not to talk about the testing, so we just talked about whatever popped into our heads. It was a shame that we didn’t have these conversations more often. At some point, we got called out to have our results from the testing given. We were called in the same order that we got tested, but thankfully the wait was a lot less. Eventually I was called in, and that’s when my nerves came back. My paranoia was back with a vengeance, but thankfully it didn’t last long. The people doing the testing informed me that I had passed, so I could continue my training at the Institute, which I was happy about. What drastically improved my mood was finding out that everyone else had passed. It was in that moment that I realised just how I had become attached I had become to my Institute family, and how devastated I would have been if someone had been told that they needed to have gone to Idris. 

That evening Ty and I were in my room, cuddling on my bed when he laced his fingers in mine saying “you’ve never been to Idris have you?” and I confirmed I hadn’t. I wasn’t sure quite where this conversation was going. “We should plan for you to go. Every Shadowhunter has to go to the Shadowhunter homeland and visit Alicante at least once in their lives” he then added, and sounded very decided about it. Once upon a time, I would never have even considered going to Idris, but now? Of course I would jump at the opportunity to be able to go. “It wouldn’t be too much trouble?” I asked Ty, not sure what else to say. Ty then looked up at me, with a sly look on his face “for you Kit, nothing would be too much trouble. We’d come with you of course so you wouldn’t be alone” he said, as though it was the most the simple thing in the world. I felt a bubble of excitement fill me. “I’d like that” I replied.


	20. Chapter 20

Once Ty had an idea in his head, nothing was going to stop him. The idea that Ty currently had in his head that I, along with his family, would be going to Idris. Much to my surprise, the rest of the family seemed in on the planning, and before I really knew what was going on, Ty was in my room helping me pack for my first visit to the Shadowhunter home country. I admit I was a bit nervous, but having Ty there with me prepare helped a lot. He kept telling me bits of information about Idris, Alicante and of all the animals there that he wanted to show me. He seemed so sweet during his ramblings that I just let him continue, not wanting to stop him.

When the day came, I was woken up by a very excitable Ty. Apparently he had been up for a while, but hadn’t want to wake me up to early, but his enthusiasm ultimately got the better of him, which was why he was sitting on me whilst I was still half asleep in an attempt to wake me up. It made me smile, as it was a good way to be woken up. Once he decided that I was suitably awake, he got off my bed and pulled me towards the kitchen for breakfast with everyone. Because the clave knew about Helen and Aline, but not about Mark and Kieran, it was decided that the latter pair would stay and guard the Institute. I felt it good for them both to have some alone time without the rest of us running around, causing there to be a constant threat of them being interrupted.

Once breakfast was over, last minute packing was done as well as any last minute preparations. We had only just finished when Tess arrived to create the portal to take us to Alicante. It was in that moment it all seemed very real, that we were actually doing this. As I had never used a portal before, Helen kindly offered to go first to show me how it was done, and Ty promised that we would go through together, which I was very happy about, and thanked them both. Once the portal had been created, I was able to get my first sight of Idris. Ty saw it too, and gave my hand a quick squeeze. Helen went first, shortly followed by Aline. Dru and Tavvy went next, followed by Diego and Christina (once they returned from Idris with us, they would both be returning to Mexico). Once they were both threw, it was my turn. Ty had one hand, and I felt Livvy take the other one, and together, we went to Idris. Once on the other side, I just found myself staring, taking it all in. I was so absorbed by it all that I didn’t notice Jules and Emma arrive or the Portal close behind us. I was brought back to reality when I felt Ty kiss me softly on the cheek.

Seeing as I had no idea where I was going, I just followed the rest of them to where we would be staying. Once we had arrived at the Blackthorns house, Ty pulled me to one side saying “there’s enough rooms here for you to have your own, but I was wondering if you would like to share mine? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, it’s just a suggestion” which made me smile. It was clear that although he so desperately wanted me to agree, he seemed to think that for some reason I wouldn’t, I cupped his face then, making him look at me saying “I would very much like that Ty, as in, sharing your room that is” then closed the gap and kissed him. Ty’s relief at my answer was shown in his response to the kiss. We’d both forgotten that we weren’t alone, it was Livvy yelling at us to “get a room” that brought us back to reality. Ty gave me a small smile, saying quietly “It seems as though Livvy has had a very good idea. Shall we?” and I just gave him a goofy grin and nodded.

Grabbing our stuff, Ty showed me to his room. It was very obviously Ty’s room. There were books everywhere and there were drawings of animals covering the walls. Ty had scarcely even closed the door when he turned and looked at me with a sly grin asking “do you want to continue what we started earlier?” and without saying anything I just walked over and reattached my lips to his, looping my arms round his neck. Ty’s hands went to my hips, and somehow, without breaking contact, made our way to Ty’s bed. I was lying on my back with Ty straddling me with his hands on the pillow by my face. My fingers had made their way to Ty’s hair, pulling him to a deeper kiss, causing him to moan. I felt Ty’s tongue run across my bottom lip, asking for entrance, which I was more than happy to allow. I felt Ty’s hips move against mine, and this time, it was my time to moan. How did he have such an influence on me? Not that I was complaining at the fact that I was entirely at his mercy. Ty then broke the kiss, and before I could complain, he started kissing along my jaw and throat, stopping at a sensitive spot just under my Adam’s apple and began sucking. I knew that there would be a mark to show for it, but in that moment, I just didn’t care. 

I’m not sure quite how long the kissing lasted, but we ultimately stopped, with Ty lying in my arms. It took a few minutes for us to get our breath back. I would have been more than happy to stay like that forever, but Tavvy’s voice on the other side of the door announced that lunch was ready. It was then I realised just how hungry was. After an attempt on both our parts to try and hide the evidence of our earlier activities, we made our way down to join everyone else to eat. Half way through eating, Ty offered me a tour of the city, which I accepted. I had a feeling that a few of the others wanted to join us, but seemed to realise we might appreciate some more alone time, so kept quiet. That’s what I liked about them, they seemed to sense stuff without needed to ask, or be told.

We left soon after eating. Ty has asked if there was anything I had wanted to see. I just laughed saying “I know nothing about the city, why don’t you show me the places worth knowing” and he made that statement proud. He showed the Guards and the Hall of Accords. He also showed me some of the shops in the city, allowing me to look round them. It was nice just getting some alone time with Ty. Whilst walking around the city, I understood, to some extent why all the other Shadowhunters felt a sense of longing to the city, calling it home, and why Ty had felt it was important that I come, and for that, I was grateful.

We spent most of the afternoon walking round the city, only returning when the sun had begun to set. There was still some before dinner, so Ty and I took the opportunity to unpack. It seems that everyone else had unpacked earlier in the day, whilst Ty and I had been otherwise engaged in other activities, not that I was complaining. I didn’t want to unpack too much, should Ty think I was trying to take over his room. Ty seemed to sense this and put my mind at ease by saying “It’s our room now Kit, so it’s ok for you to put stuff up to feel like you own the place” which made me smile. Whatever had I done to deserve Tiberius Blackthorn in my life? I would have kissed him had we not been informed that food was ready.

That night, whilst lying in bed with Ty, I felt a weird sense of peace. Life was currently good. I felt like I belonged to a group of people. Admittedly there had been a time I wouldn’t have even considered feeling any time of loyalty to the Nephilim, yet here I was in the capital city of their homeland feeling like I was home. I had a group of people who saw me as another member of their family, and treated me as such, something I was eternally grateful for. The best bit was that I had the love of an amazing boyfriend who made me feel so safe and protected, and was currently in my arms. There was not a single thing in my life that I would want to change, and I would never want to swap it for my old life, which was what I had originally wanted to do.


	21. Chapter 21

Whilst we were in Idris, Ty had to go into the Scholomance to do some tests to see if he would be a suitable candidate when we is old enough to attend. I found myself feeling slightly confused as to how to feel about the matter. Part of me went into supportive boyfriend mode, who realised that the Scholomance was what Ty wanted to do, and we was certainly bright enough to study there and be successful. There was another part of me however that was a selfish little brat that wanted Ty to stay with me and go off to a school which was in a different country and deprive me and his family of his presence. On the outside I was the supportive boyfriend part of me, but that wasn’t always how I truly felt on the inside. Jules and Livvy were going through similar inner conflicts (as supportive siblings). We supported each other as we all cared enough about Ty to support what he wanted, even if we didn’t necessarily want that for him. Ty on the other hand seemed blissfully unaware of what we were all going through, as he just kept talking about the Scholomance to anyone who would listen, meaning we were all putting on brave faces.

Once all the tests were done, Ty told us it would be a few months before he heard anything, which hopefully meant that we had a few months in which it wasn’t the only thing he talked about. As much as I loved Ty to pieces and wanted the best for him and for him to be happy, I can’t say that I wanted a constant reminder that I might lose him. Yes there was ways for us to have contact, but it wasn’t the same as having them there with you every day and being able to hold them in your arms with you. I guess we would all have to deal with it when the time came but for now we could all just enjoy the fact he was with us.

On our return to the Institute, we decided to work on the send-off party we were having for Christina and Diego. I had a feeling that Mark was happy that Diego was leaving, and Kieran was happy Christina was leaving, but neither of them said anything. Emma seemed upset that Christina was returning to Mexico, as the pair of them had become very good friends since Christina had been here. Although I hadn’t been close to either of them, they had been here the entire time that I had been here, and it would be weird, without them here. That’s life I suppose, full of comings and goings.

*** 2 years later ***

A couple of years after Christina and Diego’s departure, there was another departure that affected me so much more. Ty’s determination had won him a place at the Scholomance and it was finally time for him to go. We had been together for just over three years, and, for most of that time I had known he had wanted to go, but it still didn’t make his leaving any easier. Of course, I put a brave face on and supported his decision to go, but knowing I wouldn’t be able to have him in my arms, or be able to hear his voice or kiss him as frequently as I had become used to was killing me on the inside. I spent as much time as I could with Ty before he left, and the only contact we could have were a few letters that were a few and far between.

Ty and I spent the night before his departure in each other’s arms, not sleeping but just talking about various moments in our relationship, and how much we loved each other. It made us realise just how much we meant to each other, and how much this relationship meant to each other. We kept promising that we would put every effort into keeping the relationship going and how we would keep each other’s family rings on, so people knew we were taken and things were serious. It was at that point we may have started crying as the enormity of everything sunk in of what was about to happen. Needless to say we didn’t sleep that much that night.

The following day, once Ty had done his final packing checks, and had said his goodbyes to Dru, Tavvy, Mark, Kieran, Helen, Aline and Emma. It was then that the tears people had been holding back started to show themselves. As Livvy, Jules and I were going with Ty, we tried to hold ourselves together. Now was not the time for us to cry. I knew I had gotten emotional the night before, I knew that, went it came for me to say goodbye, it was highly likely that the tears would be back with a vengeance. Once the goodbyes and the hugs were done, our smaller group took Ty’s stuff and went to meet Tessa, who was opening a portal to get us to Idris. Admittedly there was a small part of me that hoped that she had forgotten and wouldn’t be there, but she had remembered and was on time. My heart contracted at that point: this was really happening, Ty really was leaving us to study at the Scholomance.

Going through the portal to get to Idris was a very different experience this time round compared to my last visit. Last time I had been taking everything in, and spent a lot of time playing tonsil tennis with Ty. This time, there was 4 of us entering the country, but only 3 of us would be returning. I think Ty could sense my anxiety over the situation, as he slipped his hand into mine, squeezed it and said “I’ll be back before you know it” which gave me at least home. He was right, I would see him again, and this departure wouldn’t last forever. I would get the love of my life back again. Sooner as supposed to later I hoped.

The rest of the walk to the Scholomance was in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I was so caught up in my own little bubble that I didn’t realise just how close we were until I heard Ty gasp slightly. The Scholomance, to give credit where credit was due was an impressive, if not slightly creepy looking building. Ty really must be serious about the whole thing is he was prepared to leave the homely feel of the Institute for this. I glanced over at Ty who was staring at it, awestruck. “Ready?” I asked and with a small nod, Ty entered, with the rest of us followed him in. 

After signing himself in, we were escorted to the room Ty would be staying in for the duration of his stay. I could see him taking it all in, his face similar to that of a kid in a sweet shop. Livvy, Jules and I just kept our eyes on Ty. We didn’t say it, but we realised that that this was the point of no return, that there was no chance that Ty would change his mind and want to come home with us. It was pointless to try and convince him otherwise. When we finally arrived at his room, I have to admit that I was surprised in a good way. I had been expecting some kind of dungeon-like room: one that was dark, slimy, small and cold, but the room we found ourselves standing in was big and light. The person who had brought us to the room said they would return in half an hour to give us a tour. Once they had left, we started unpacking Ty’s stuff, whilst Ty fangirled about the place. Well at least I could leave him hear knowing he was happy.

Exactly 30 minutes after we were left, the Shadowhunter returned to give us a tour of the Scholomance and introduce Ty to several people. Livvy, Jules and I just followed around feeling a little clueless, the reality settling in. Ty on the other hand was listening intently to what the Shadowhunter had to say, and occasionally asking questions, which the Shadowhunter was more than happy to answer. Once the tour was over, we were brought back to Ty’s room and given time to say our goodbyes. We decided to take it in turns, with one person in the room with Ty to say what needed to be said in private. Jules went in first, and on his way out, I could see him struggling to hold in the tears on his way out. Once Livvy went in, I glanced over to Jules saying quietly “he’s your brother Jules, it’s Ok if you want to cry, I won’t judge” and that’s all he needed for the tears to start streaming down his face.

Livvy came out having said her goodbyes, and made no effort to hide her feelings and was openly crying. Jules pulled her in for a hug just I went into see Ty. Seeing both Livvy and Jules so upset had put a massive lump in my throat. This was going to be the hardest part, there was no denying it. Once I had closed the door behind me, I looked over at Ty. It was obvious he was holding back tears. Without saying anything, I just pulled him in for a tight hug, I just wanted to feel him close to me. I started stroking his hair then, saying how much I loved him and how proud of him I was for getting in here. I had only just finished talking when we both stated crying.

Once we had some control of our emotions, Ty looked at me straight in the face saying “you’ll look after them won’t you? Our family” and I nodded. “I’ll protect them with everything that I have Ty” I promised, and this seemed to like this, as he cupped my face pulling me in for a kiss, both of us putting everything we had into it. Once the kiss broke, there was a knock on the door from Jules to indicate it was almost time for me to go. I opened the door for the other two to come in, and we just hugged in the room. I was the last to leave the room and just before I closed the door, I looked at Ty saying “I love you. I have always loved you and will continue to love you Tiberius Blackthorn” and it was the most honest thing I had said. Ty smiled back saying “I love you too Christopher Herondale” and with that, I closed the door, and together with Livvy and Jules left the Scholomance and portaled back to L.A, leaving a brother and a lover behind us.


	22. Chapter 22

The year Ty spent at the Scholomance had been difficult. Our only contact had been through letters, which were few and far between. There were times in which the paranoia I had had when I had found out about Ty’s desire to go to the Scholomance, in which I was terrified he would find someone else, and be done with me. Whenever these feelings of paranoia came, I would find myself playing with the Blackthorn ring Ty had given me, as a promise that he would never leave me, that no one at the Scholomance would ever be as good as I was. When things got really bad, Livvy resorted to best friend and twin sister role and shook some sense to me. On one particular occasion when things got really bad, Livvy just took me to one side, looked me straight in the eyes and started talking “Kit, listen to me. Ty loves you so much, and you return those feelings. Anyone can see that and you wouldn’t be getting into such a state if you didn’t. You and Ty were together nearly three and a half years before he went to the Scholomance. Regardless of who you are, that’s a really impressive amount of time for two people to be together. You two have something special to have lasted as long as you have. The simple reason that you lasted, and will continue to last be because you two are perfect for each other. Trust me. Anyway Ty wouldn’t want you worrying about him. Go out and make him proud” so I did.

He had been at the Scholomance a year when the most amazing thing happened. We received a letter from Ty to say he had completed his training, as was able to come home. Jules had read the letter out to all of us, and the excitement that erupted was incredible. Livvy and I started doing our “Ty’s coming home” dance, and everyone else was just cheering and hugging each other. Something that had always been clear to be since my arrival at the Institute was that the Blackthorns really did stick together, and it was a great wound when one of them wasn’t there. Although we all knew that Ty’s departure was temporary and that he was safe and would return to us, it still caused a wound. Knowing that he was going to return meant that wound would heal. 

Once we had calmed down and Livvy and I had finally stopped dancing, we decided that a home coming party would be required. Livvy and I volunteered to organise it, to which Jules agreed (despite both Mark and Helen had returned to the Blackthorns, and had been here a few years, Jules was still viewed as the person in charge) but under the condition we involved everyone in the planning. We had scarcely agreed to the condition before Livvy was dragging me back to her room and we started planning. We decided to theme the party around ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and we really did that theme proud. Herondales loved a challenge and Livvy never did anything by halves, especially when her twin was involved. We did keep up our agreement by getting everyone involved, whether it be buying things, or making things. Despite not being Blackthorns, both Aline and Kieran were both heavily involved in the party. 

The day itself came and I started worrying. Would Ty like what we had done? Livvy looked as though she was about to inflict some damage and claim she was ‘knocking some sense into me’ when a portal started to open and out came Ty. I had spent so long desperate so see him again that I hadn’t actually got any idea on what I was going to do when he came back. The porta; had scarcely even closed when Livvy launched herself onto Ty, practically deafening him whilst she squealed his name. It was this that alerted the rest of the Blackthorns to Ty’s arrival, and they all came swarming in, resulting in a huge Blackthorn family hug. Aline, Kieran and I had hung back. I was still slightly in shock that Ty was actually back, and Kieran and Aline were giving Helen and Mark space to welcome back their brother. When the hug finally ended, Ty spotted me. Him walking over to me seemed to be almost in slow motion, but he was finally in my arms and his lips were on mine. By the angel I had missed this. 

Breaking the kiss, I just looked at him, feeling tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. Cupping his face in my hand I just asked “is it really you?” and with a slight nod of his head he responded with “who else would it be?” which made me chuckle, then kiss him again. Livvy being Livvy asked “are you two going to keep kissing or are we going to get round to having this party?” Ty broke the kiss, and raised one of his eyebrows. “Party?” was all he said. I just nodded then added “Sherlock Holmes themed” causing his entire face to just light up. Slipping his hand in mine, we went with the rest of the family into the main area of the party to officially welcome Ty home. Once the food had been eaten, games had been played (all Sherlock related) and music had been danced to and songs had been sung, we ended up all sitting in a circle, with Ty between Livvy and I, and we were sharing the stories that hadn’t made the letters (and explaining the ones that had in more detail) whilst Ty had been away. Although Ty had loved being at the Scholomance and had made a couple of friends that he would keep in touch with, he admitted to having missed us all terribly. This confession made me hold him tighter.

Once the party was over, Ty waited until we were alone before talking to me. “Kit, I’ve missed you so much whilst I’ve been away and don’t want to be separated from you just yet, is it OK if I sleep with you tonight? I don’t think I can go another night without you by my side” he said. I just grinned like an idiot when he had said those words. “Ty, you have no idea how happy that would make me, or how much I have missed having you by my side” I said, then slid my hand into his and lead him back to my room. Having Ty next to me in the bed, and being able to hold him next to me made me realise just how much I had actually missed him. We spent hours just cuddling each other, kissing and whispering sweet nothings to each other before drifting off to sleep. That night I had slept better than I had done since Ty had left.


	23. Chapter 23

Ty and I had been together for four years, which was not an impressive feat in itself, but considering neither of us had dated anyone prior to each other, it was even more impressive. I wanted to do something significant to make this anniversary, but honestly had no idea how to do it, which bothered me. It had been Ty who had unintentionally given me the idea. We were lying on his bed, and Ty was reading one of his Sherlock Holmes books to me (I’d only seen the show, and a couple of Holmes inspired films, a fact that had annoyed Ty but he’d been able to control for so long. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore and, realising I wasn’t going to read them, decided he was going to read them to me. If I’m honest, I think he just wanted to an excuse to spend time with me after his year away at the Scholomance) when I remembered something. Whilst Ty had been away, we’d had some guests from the London Institute. They were trying to convince us there was more to London than rain by telling us all the things one could see and do in London. I’m convinced one of them had mentioned a Sherlock Homes museum but I hadn’t wanted to think too much of it at the time, as it reminded me to much of the man I was in love with but wasn’t there.

Once the idea had entered my head, I couldn’t get rid of it, but knew I needed to do some more research before saying something to anyone, which was going to be hard as Ty and I had been almost inseparable since he had come home (not that I was complaining in the slightest) so I enlisted the help of someone who I knew would help me: Livvy. I sent her a quick text to see if she could keep Ty busy long enough for me to do some research on the computer, whilst Ty had gone to the loo. Thankfully Livvy did not let me down and she agreed. Not even ten minutes later she had burst into the room we were in, saying that although she thought we were cute for spending do much time together, she wanted some quality time with her twin. Ty had automatically turned to look at me to ask if I was coming but I was on my feet pushing him towards Livvy saying “I don’t want to be third wheeling on your twin time” which made Livvy laugh. I wanted a couple of minutes to make sure the coast was clear before running to the room with the computer.

It hadn’t taken me long to find out I hadn’t been imagining things or even misremembering things. The Sherlock Holmes Museum was a very real things, which made me grin like an idiot. Quickly making a note of prices and opening times, I finished on the computer, with the first part of my plan done. Despite the fact both Ty and I were fully functioning adults, I still felt like I needed to ask Jules permission to do stuff. Considering I was planning on taking his brother out the country, I felt this was defiantly something he would to know about beforehand. Jules had been spending a lot of time in studio, so I decided to go there first (having texted Livvy to make sure I wasn’t going to bump into Ty on the way. Livvy agreed, but made it clear I owed her a lot of Chocolate to pay for her part in this, and I agreed). Knocking on the studio, it turned out I was right, as I heard Jules’s voice from the other side of the door inviting me in.

Jules was half way through painting a family portrait when I walked in. What made me smile was that he had included me, Aline, Kieran and Emma, despite the fact none of us were technically Blackthorns (well Aline was married to Helen, but she wasn’t one of the siblings). Putting his paintbrush down, he turned to look at me saying “where’s Ty? Aren’t you two joined either at the hip or the lips?” which made me blush like crazy (I was a Herondale for goodness sake, Herondales don’t blush) but I tried to carry on regardless. “I actually wanted to talk to about this without him” I said, making him raise any eyebrow. “Ty and I have been together four years, and I wanted to take him to the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London to celebrate, but I haven’t said anything to him yet, partly because I don’t want to get his hopes up should something happen and we don’t go, and partly because if we do go, I want it to be a surprise. I wanted to make sure you were OK with me taking him there” I said. 

“You do realise you don’t have to ask my permission to do stuff Kit, especially when it comes to Ty. It’s obvious to everyone how much you love him and how much you will do to protect him. Just promise me you’ll make sure it’s a memorable moment for him” he said. I nodded, not quite believing my luck. “I promise” I said, and to my surprise, I got a hug from Jules. Breaking away, he just looked at me saying “I’m glad it’s you who’s in love with my brother” and with that, he returned to his painting, and I left. The next part of my plan was to send a fire message to Tessa (who was still living in L.A with Jem) to ask if she could portal us to London the following week. I didn’t have to wait long for the reply. Tessa had agreed. All I needed to do was keep this a secret from Ty for the next week, which was very difficult.

When the day came, I was so excited. I could not wait to see Ty’s face when he realised where would be going. Livvy had forced the truth out of me, and made me promise that I brought her something, which I agreed to. Tessa had arrived at ten o’clock to portal us to London, and all that Ty knew was that I had something planned, which annoyed him as he didn’t like not knowing. Tessa had created the portal, and had told me she would be opening it again at eight o’clock UK time, to give us time to look around, and then do some exploring. It was then time to go. Taking Ty’s hand, I lead him through the portal to Baker Street in London. I wish I had taken a photo of Ty’s face when he realised where we were as it was priceless. He just looked at me and said simply “Kit, we’re in Baker Street!” with such amazement in his voice it was brilliant. I pointed at the building in front of us and went “Ty, what does the sign on that building say?” and I swear to the angel his eyes nearly popped out his head. “We’re at the Sherlock Holmes museum!!!” he went, and I’m convinced this was the closest I had ever seen Ty to full on fangirling. Wrapping my arms round his waist, I whispered “happy anniversary my love” then kissed him softly on the lips. Once the kiss had entered, I took his hand and pulled him towards the building dedicated to his favourite detective. 

We spent a few hours there, with Ty taking in every single detail. Seeing him like this made me fall in love with him even more than I already was, which I hadn’t even realised that was possible. Once we had finished, I convinced him to buy a deerstalker hat. As promised, I found something for Livvy and brought it for her. We’d scarcely left when Ty kissed me and went “Thank you for being the Watson to my Holmes” and kissed me again. Slipping his hand in mine, Ty dragged me off to explore the rest of London. Overall it had been a success of a day and I was gutted when we had to return back to L.A. where I was exhausted from all our walking around and wanted to lie down, Ty wanted to talk all about it, which was how we ended up sitting on his bed with Livvy, listening to Ty talk one hundred miles an hour about everything. Seeing how much he had enjoyed himself had made everything worth it. That night, whilst I held Ty in my arms, he just said “thank you for today Kit. I’m so grateful I have you as a boyfriend and I love you so much”. Tightening my arms around him, I just replied with “I love you to”.


	24. Chapter 24

Jules and I had been in the training room when we had a conversation that changed my life. Ty had been dragged of by Livvy to look at something on the computer, and Emma had gone for a run, which it was why it was just us. Jules had been looking at me in a way I couldn’t work out for a while when he just came out with “when are you going to propose to Ty?” which completely took me by surprise. “What did you just say?” I managed to get out, my brain not fully processing what had just happened. “It’s obvious you love him, and he loves you, and you are both going to be spending the rest of your lives together, so when are you going to propose to him?” he said, in a way one might say ‘so when are you going to the cinema?’ Jules had just asked me when I was going to get engaged to his younger brother, and I was trying to deal with that.

“To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about popping the question” I said, and it was the truth. Jules just rolled his eyes at me. “By the angel Kit why not? If I were you, I’d hurry up and ask. Livvy’s already started planning your wedding” he said, just as casually as his initial question. “She has?!” I squawked, my head spinning, and Jules just laughed. To be fair, if anyone was going to plan a wedding before an engagement took place, it was going to be Livvy. “Of course she has. We’ve all taken bets on how long it’s going to take before you get down on one knee” he said. I needed to sit down and take in his words. “I take it you’re telling me this because you want to win this bet” I said, not even questioning the fact the rest of the Blackthorns were making bets on my relationship with Ty. I’d lived with them long enough to know not to question some of the stuff they did, but instead just roll with it. “Well that’s part of the reason yes. But the main reason is that I want my family to be happy and by the angel you make Ty happy. We already see you as part of the family, but it would be something very special to have you an official member in the eyes of everyone else” he said. 

Thinking about it, I did want Ty in my life for as long as I had lived, but until Jules had mentioned it, I hadn’t thought about marriage, I guess I never saw myself getting married, and never thought myself lucky enough to find someone like Ty to even consider wanting to get married to. I looked at Jules then and went “I want to…you know propose, but I want it to be special but have no idea how to do that.” Jules grinned. “Mark and Kieran are going to distract Ty this evening with some animals from faerie, so meet me and Livvy in my studio at 8 this evening. Everyone else is going to be on watch” he said, and with that, he left. It was only then I realised that this conversation had probably been planned, and Livvy needed to show Ty something on the computer was just an excuse to get him out the room. 

At eight o’clock on the dot, I found myself knocking on the door to Jules’s art studio, and it was Livvy who let me in. Apparently the excitement had gotten just too much, resulting in her turning up half an hour early. Everything else had gone to plan. During dinner, Kieran and Mark were talking about some of the animals that Kieran missed in faerie (it all started when Mark had casually asked what Kieran had missed most about leaving faerie and living amongst Shadowhunters) and, not to anyone’s surprise, it had caught Ty’s attention. Kieran had casually made the suggestion of “I could show you some this evening, there is a place I know not far from here” and Ty had jumped at the opportunity. They had left just after 7. Dru had been stationed to the window in her room, Emma to the training room, Tavvy to the library, Helen and Aline to the attic, and Diana had place herself in the office. With so many people on watch, we were sure that we would know as and when Ty, Mark and Kieran returned. It honestly wasn’t until that moment did I realise just how invested everyone was to our relationship, and we’d been together 4 years. 

“Have you had any thoughts on how you want to propose?” Livvy asked, getting straight to the point. I nodded then went “I kind of what to do something based around Sherlock, seeing as that’s sort of our thing” I said, making Livvy excitedly clap her hands. “You’re the Watson to his Holmes” she said, and I nodded in agreement. “Why don’t you create like, an investigation for him, based around the books. Give him a line from a Sherlock book, and he has to find the book, which has the next line next to it, clue as to where he has to look next, which ultimately leads to the next one” Jules suggested, which I liked. Then an idea occurred to me which made me grin like an absolute idiot. “I like that. But I want the last book to be “The Final Problem” which just is just lying on a table, with a ring on it and me waiting beside it” I said, which caused Livvy to put her hands over her heart, sink down her chair going “that is so romantic” which made me shrug. “I’ve been known to be” I said simply. We spent the next hour planning the investigation for Ty, before Dru pocked her head round the door and told us that Ty was on the return. Keeping this a secret was going to be tough.

Every spare moment I had was spent planning my proposal to Ty. Haven already given him my Herondale ring, I couldn’t use that to propose with, so I managed to slip out and managed to buy one. I’d sent a photo to both Livvy and Jules and they both wholeheartedly approved. All that I needed to do was ask the question, and that was what I was most concerned about, as I didn’t want to mess up. Everyone, except Ty knew, and they kept glancing at me and grinning. The mood in the Institute had shifted, and I’m surprised Ty didn’t pick up on it.

The day itself came and I was both excited and nervous. Ty and I had been in his room, and we were discussing who the worse Sherlock Holmes villain was when I got a text from Livvy saying everything was in place. I claimed that my phone needed charging, and was going to go back to mine and get my charger, I left and went to the Library, where I was going to solve my own final problem of asking Ty to marry me. Once in position, I sent Emma a text to let her know she could give Ty the first clue. A couple of minutes later, she replied saying “the game is on” meaning there was no turning back now. By the angel, this was really happening. 

I’m not sure how long I was waiting (it wasn’t too long, but I wasn’t surprised. Ty was on an investigation and Sherlock Holmes was involved) when I heard the Library door open and Ty entered. I took a deep breath and waited. This was it and there was nothing that was going to make me mess this up. Ty finally got to the area I was waiting, and walked over, a look of confusion on his face. “Kit, what’s going on?” he asked. I took the ring, and the book, and started talking. I hadn’t really planned a speech, instead just relied on what happened when I got caught in the moment. “Ty, the last book in your investigation is “The Final Problem” and I want to solve my own final problem” I put the book down on the table, got on one knee, and held the ring in my fingers, not taking my eyes off Ty. 

“Tiberius Blackthorn, the first time I saw you, you were holding a knife to my throat, but instead of thinking about how I was going to hurt you, my first thought was ‘how beautiful’ and I have thought that every day since. You sat outside my door when I first arrived here, and helped me become the Shadowhunter that I am today. You became my friend, and that friendship transformed into a relationship, and I have never regretted a single day of the four years we have been together, and I want so many more days with you. Will you let me continue being the John Watson to your Sherlock Holmes, and marry me?” I said. The pause between my proposal and Ty’s answer was unbearable and seemed to last an eternity, but eventually he smiled, and said “by the angel yes, Christopher Herondale I will marry you” which was the best thing I have heard in my life. Sliding the ring onto his finger, I stood up and kissed him. 

When we broke the kiss, Ty slipped his hand in mine and we went to the kitchen. Jules had started cooking, and the smell had made it’s way to us, indicating that it was nearly ready. We were the last ones to arrive, and as soon as we walked in, all eyes were on us. “Well?” Livvy demanded, asking the question they all wanted to know. Somehow I managed to get the words out by saying “he said yes” which resulted in them all standing up, cheering and clapping. Ty wrapped his arms round me and buried his head in my neck. Livvy had promptly burst into tears, and Jules looked very close to, but was fiercely denying it to anyone who asked. Eventually everyone calmed down and over dinner, I told them how I had asked, and Ty’s response. Then conversation turned to the wedding itself. Jules hadn’t been joking when he said Livvy had already started the planning process.

It had been decided that the wedding itself would happen in Idris, where all important Shadowhunter ceremonies took place, and Alines’ mum Jia (who was the Consul) would be the one conducting it. Both Ty and I would be married in gold, as dictated by Shadowhunter tradition. Livvy found herself have a bit of a crisis. She had no idea whose suggenes she wanted to be. Ty was her twin, but I was her Best friend. I insisted that she be Ty’s. It was Jules who ended up being mine, not that I was complaining. It was Jules who had gotten me to propose in the first place. It was a given that all of the L.A institute were going to be in attendance. Christina also got an invite, as did those at the New York Institute. As the Blackthorns had more contacts in the Shadowhunter world than I did, they sent letters to those they knew in Alicante, all of whom were invited. As the Cold Peace had become more lienent over the years, we managed to get an invite to Gwyn Ap Nudd, partly for everything he had done for Mark and the family, partly to act as Diana’s plus one. Jem and Tessa were also there.

We’d travelled to Alicante the day before, staying with Aline’s family. Ty and I slept in separate rooms, which I struggled with. I didn’t get much sleep that night, partly because Ty wasn’t there, partly because I was excited, and partly because I was nervous. When the day finally came, I kept having to remind myself it was really happening. We decided to follow in the footsteps of Helen and Aline (and Magnus and Alec) and would hyphenate our surnames to Blackthorn-Herondale. Jules was with me bright and early to help me get ready. Helen also joined us for a bit. She had been the one to propose to Aline, so had some idea of what I was feeling, and gave me some advice and answered any of my questions. She then left to finish getting ready so she could leave with everyone else. 

Finally it was ready for Jules and me to go. He kept having to remind me to breathe, but I was so nervous. I really didn’t want to mess up the biggest day of my life. I don’t remember much of the journey there, or my entrance to the hall, but as soon as I was next to Ty, I made sure to focus, committing everything to memory. We made the wedding oaths and drew the wedding runes onto each other. Of all the runes I had learnt, it was the wedding runes I had spent the most of the time practicing. Before I knew it, Jia announced we were officially married, and in that moment I have never been happier. Leaning forward, I kissed Ty, and everyone in the room erupted into cheers and applause.  
The rest of the day was filled with dancing, eating and countless people congratulating Ty and I on our marriage. I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire day. There was a moment I wished my Dad had been there, but then I realised that if he had been around, I would never have met Ty, and most certainly not be marrying him at a Shadowhunter ceremony. The speeches were going to be something I would always remember. Tessa and Jem had gone up, and talked about my entrance into the Shadowhunter world, and how lucky they were to be able to see my relationship with Ty flourish. The Blackthorn siblings were well known for doing things together, and this was no different. They told a great number of embarrassing stories about both Ty and I (resulting in a lot of blushing and head in hands) and a lot of gushing at our relationship. Jules ended it by proposing a toast, saying he was glad we had found each other, and hoped everyone ended up with a relationship like ours. 

After the wedding, we crashed out onto Ty’s bed, and wrapped our arms round each other, whispering sweet nothings and discussing our favourite parts of the day, and our relationship in general. I wanted to freeze that moment, as it was absolutely perfect. I was in the arms of the man I loved, having gotten married to him earlier that day, and there was nothing I would have changed. Kissing him softly on the lips I whispered “I love you so much Ty” which caused him to give me one of his smiles. “I love you too Kit” he replied. We drifted off to sleep soon after, neither of us feeling so incredibly loved.


	25. Chapter 25

***Epilogue: 15 years later***

So much had happened in the last 15 years since I married Ty, it was difficult to keep track of everything. We’d stayed at the Institute with the Blackthorns where we both agreed we belonged (something I would have not have said 20 years before). Kieran had asked Mark to marry him, and Mark had agreed, meaning the alternated between living in the Institute and faerie. I kept remembering how Mark had been with Kieran when I had first seen them together, which was a world away from how they were now. They were a lot happier together. Their wedding had been a combination of Shadowhunter and Faerie traditions. Mark had married in gold, with Helen as his suggenes. Gwyn had represented Kieran, who was wearing traditional faerie clothing. Kieran had made the effort to learn the wedding runes to put on Mark, and Kieran and gotten Kieran a faerie wedding ring. They had married on faerie land, and we’d all danced the night away to faerie music. To everyone’s surprise all the riders from the Wild Hunt had attended, as had a handful of Kieran’s brothers.

Shortly after our wedding, Emma had been exiled to Mexico to be with Cristina. Because of this exile, her parabatai bond with Jules was broken. We all thought this would break the pair of them, but in actual fact, they were both very happy about it. They had been in love with each other (which is why they had asked for Emma to be sent to exile, to cut their bond) so they could be in a relationship with each other. They later married, and had twin girls: Delia (after Emma’s mother) and Eleanor (after Jules’s mother). After so much sadness, they were both finally happy. 

Tavvy had become parabatai with Alec and Magnus’s son Rafael, meaning we saw a lot more of them, not that anyone was complaining. After a visit from Cristina and her childhood friend Jaime, a blossoming relationship was developing between the pair of them. That’s not to say they didn’t have it easy. Jaime was three years older than Dru, meaning he had to deal with Jules and Mark, who were fulfilling their protective older brother’s role and making sure he did nothing to hurt her in any way, shape or form. I don’t think Dru was all too impressed with this, and kept reminding them she was perfectly capable of looking after herself, and she wasn’t as young as they seemed to thinks she was. Gwyn and Diana, despite not (as far as we knew) were married, but were still together, still happy and still hopelessly in love. Kieran regularly commented on the fact Gwyn seemed to have softened a little bit since he stated seeing Diana, but was glad they had each other.

Unfortunately not all of us had had a happy ending. There had been a horrific battle with a lot of Demons, and Livvy had been badly hurt. So badly hurt in fact she had died in Jules’s arms. It had broken the entire family with Jules and Ty suffering the most. Both brothers blamed themselves for her death and it killed me to see Ty in so much pain, to see all of them in pain for that matter. Livvy had been such an important part of all of our lives, meaning her death had caused a wound in all of our lives. It was a conversation I’d had with Ty that made me realise what I needed to do. I’d been holding him tight as he’d sobbed, and he’d suddenly asked “Is she a ghost Kit, have you seen her?” and in that moment I realised I hadn’t. I’d remembered someone telling me that people only ‘stayed on’ as ghosts if they had unfished business, or some kind of wrong. The fact I hadn’t seen her meant she had passed on in peace. Knowing this, and knowing Livvy (whom I knew would hate to see her family suffer, especially if she was the cause) I got everyone together to talk about their memories of Livvy, and create a ‘memory box’ of her, filled with photos, trinkets they had that reminded them of her, and stories of her. The idea was that they could get it out and look at it should they need to. Since then, they all seemed to get better, which was a relief.

A couple of years after Livvy’s death, Ty and I adopted a baby Shadowhunter girl, whose parents had died in a demon attack. Ty wanted to call her Olivia, in a nod to his twin, and I was more than happy to agree. Sure there were moments in which our lack of parental knowledge had an impact, often resulting in frantic calls to Jules asking for help, which he thankfully gave. Both Ty and I were completely in love with her, and every day, she gave us more reasons to love her. Ty often read to her from his Sherlock Holmes books, and she would curl into him and listen to him read. The sight alone made my heart melt.

Olivia was now 9, and was a very bubbly little girl, and reminded us all of the girl she was named after. She had decided that she wanted to run an Institute. This had been Livvy’s dream, and she hadn’t been able to achieve it, so we all made sure Olivia could achieve this, and do her aunt proud. One night, I was cuddling Ty, and was watching our daughter playing with our cats Sherlock and Watson, and realising just how happy I was. I had a husband whom I loved dearly (and who I knew returned my feelings), a beautiful daughter and a place I knew I belonged. I wouldn’t change anything for the world

***The end***


End file.
